Abstract
An orchard-lifting platform is a type of mechanical equipment to assist growers in fruit picking, fruit tree pruning, flower thinning, and other operations. In its operational processes, the tilting stability directly affects the operational safety and adaptability under complex terrain conditions, while critical tilting angle is an important criterion to evaluate the tilting stability. Based on the structure and the operating characteristics of the three degree of freedom (3-DOF ) lifting platform for hilly orchards, the tilting stability was analyzed in different parked states, and the theoretical expressions of critical tilting angle were obtained; in the theoretical expressions, the influencing factors on tilting stability were determined as the parked position β1, the manned worktable rotary position β2, the lifting height h, and the load m. Based on the multi-body dynamics principle, the tilting stability simulation was carried out. The relative error of tilting angles was approximately 4.6% between simulation and tilting verification experiment, which indicated that the results of tilting stability simulation were reliable. Therefore, the multi-body dynamics simulation was used for further clarifying the influencing factors on tilting stability. A virtual orthogonal test was designed, and the results showed that critical tilting angle ranged from 20° to 44° when the factors were at different values, which indicated that the 3-DOF lifting platform for hilly orchards had a high tilting stability performance and could adapt to the operating conditions of hills with slope angles from 5° to 20°. The results of the range analysis and ANOVA showed that the influence intensity of factors on tilting stability was β1 > h > m > β2; at the same time, β1, h, and m exerted significant effect on tilting stability. The tilting stability first decreased and then either increased or decreased with the increasing lifting height; it gradually decreased with the increasing load. It also showed that the position of the manned worktable along the slope down always had the lowest tilting stability. This research can provide a theoretical basis and reference for the analysis of tilting stability of the lifting machinery for hilly orchards. Keywords: orchard-lifting platform, hills areas, tiling stability, influencing factors, analysis and experiment DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20181106.3523 Citation: Duan Z H, Qiu W, Ding W M, Liu Y D, Ouyang Y P, et al. Tilting stability analysis and experiment of the 3-DOF lifting platform for hilly orchards. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2018; 11(6): 73–80.
Highlights
With the development of orchard mechanization, an increasing number of mechanical equipments have been developed for fruit picking, fruit tree pruning, flower thinning, and other operations, among which the more common is the orchard-lifting platform[1]
According to the application status of the current orchard-lifting platforms in hilly areas, combined with the terrain conditions and the geometrical parameters of fruit trees to meet the complex operating environment of the hilly orchard, we developed a 3-DOF lifting platform, which can assist the fruit farmers to complete the orchard picking and pruning operations when it is in the parked state
The critical tilting angle (α0) ranged from 20° to 44° when the factors were at different values, which indicated that the 3-DOF lifting platform for hilly orchards had a high tilting stability performance, met the design requirements and could adapt to the operating conditions of hills with slope angles from 5° to 20°
Summary
With the development of orchard mechanization, an increasing number of mechanical equipments have been developed for fruit picking, fruit tree pruning, flower thinning, and other operations, among which the more common is the orchard-lifting platform[1]. When the lifting platform is operating in fruit trees, the position of the center of gravity is changing with different operating actions. Orchards in southern China are more concentrated in hilly areas, where the ground is undulating, and has more slopes with angles that range from 5° to 20°. Operating in these terrains, a lower tilting stability is more likely to cause instability of the entire machine, even causing severe casualties and property damage. The tilting stability is one of the most important performance indicators of the hilly orchard-lifting platforms
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