Study of force distribution in the citrus tree canopy during harvest using a continuous canopy shaker

Mechanical harvesting is increasingly being employed in the citrus industry of Florida because of the faster and efficient harvesting it provides with comparatively lower cost when compared to manual harvesting. Continuous canopy shakers are the only mechanical harvesters commercially used in Florida. The main concerns regarding the use of these machines are damage to tree and detrimental effect on next year yield. Because of these concerns, only a very low percentage (6-7%) of the acreage is being harvested mechanically. To improve these machines and address the growers' concerns, experiments were conducted to study the force and acceleration distribution on the tree branches and fruits. The acceleration was measured at different locations in the canopy using tri-axis accelerometers attached to the branch and data was recorded using ZigBee (R) transceivers. The distribution of force and acceleration along an individual branch in trees of two different sizes were studied at three different tine angles and frequencies of the shaker. Both distributions were modeled using the Curve Fitting Toolbox (TM) of Matlab (R). The results suggested that the force was higher for the fruits inside the canopy than the ones at the edges. It was also observed that the maximum force required to remove the fruit mechanically was only 18% of the traditionally measured fruit detachment force. The force along the branch was found to be Gaussian in nature and the acceleration along the branch was found to be exponential. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.