Abstract
Mechanical harvesting of wild blueberries remains the most cost-effective means for harvesting the crop. Harvesting of wild blueberries is heavily reliant on operator skill and full automation of the harvester will rely on precise and accurate determination of the picking reel’s height. This study looked at developing a control system which would provide feedback on harvester picking reel height on up to five harvester heads. Additionally, the control system looked at implementing three quality of life improvements for operators, operating multiple heads until the point when full automation is achieved. These three functions were a tandem movement function, a baseline function, and a set-to-one function. Each of these functions were evaluated for their precision and accuracy and returned absolute mean discrepancies of 3.10, 2.20, and 2.50 mm respectively. Both electric and hydraulic actuators were evaluated for their effectiveness in this system however, the electric actuator was simply too slow to be deemed viable for the commercial harvesters. To achieve the full 203.2 mm stroke required by the harvester head, the electric actuator required 13.96 s while the hydraulic actuator required only 2.30 s under the same load.
Highlights
Wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) are a perennial, small fruit crop which are typically managed on a biennial cycle in order to maximize yields and apply pesticides which otherwise would damage the crop [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
Doug Bragg Enterprises (DBE) has been the driving force behind many of the efficiency improvements done to the harvester including, the implementation of the hydraulic control system for precise harvester head height control
The steps in full automation of the harvester will be to develop a ground, object, and fruit sensing system which can be interfaced with this control system
Summary
Wild blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) are a perennial, small fruit crop which are typically managed on a biennial cycle in order to maximize yields and apply pesticides which otherwise would damage the crop [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. This two-year cycle sees vigorous vegetative growth in the first year followed by flower and fruit production in the second year. The company aims to transition towards an automated head for their harvesters
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