Abstract
Two impact type electronic weighing devices were developed and tested during the 2004and 2005 tomato harvesting seasons. The devices consist of a simple impact plate and a magneticpickup type harvester boom conveyor speed sensing system. The impact plate was mounted overfour load cells in one design and a single load cell in the other design to sense the impact force. Thetotal mass of the tomato weighing system was less than 35 kg, thus making it easy to handle. It wasretrofitted on to two commonly used makes of tomato harvesters. In operation, tomatoes impactedthe plate as they dropped off the harvester boom conveyor. The impact force and conveyor speeddata were recorded on a data logger. The data were analyzed to estimate the weight of thetomatoes harvested over a desired length of transects such as 30 m. The devices were calibratedover 2004 and 2005 growing seasons. The systems worked quite well indicating the potential forweigh buckets based on the impact principle. However, more tests are necessary to validate thesedevices. Plans are underway to conduct additional tests during the 2006 harvesting season.
Published Version
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