Determination of Optimum Shaking Frequency and Amplitude of Prototype Body Shaker Used for Mechanical Harvesting of Pistachio

Abstract

Important problems have been seen during harvesting of different fruit trees in Turkey. The highest cost in fruit growing constitutes harvesting process as 43.99% of total cost. In this research, a body shaker which was mounted to tractor three-point linkage system and driven by power take off system was designed and manufactured to decrease the cost of harvesting of tree fruits. A tractor with 70 BG power is enough to transport and operate this body shaker. This prototype was functioned with a system including a hydraulic pump taking movement from power take-off and hydraulic motor. Body shaker could be controlled by only one person. Harvesting tests using different frequencies and amplitudes were carried out with body shaker. Two pistachio tree cultivars namely Siirt and Kirmizi were used during the harvesting tests. Pistachio fruits which remained on the branch and leaved from branch were weighed separately to determine of harvesting efficiency. For this aim, performance of body shaker was determined. As a result, the best performance result was determined using 40 Hz frequency and 20 mm amplitude. The harvesting efficiency values in harvesting tests carried out using 40 Hz frequency and 20 mm were calculated 93.27% for pistachio cultivar of Siirt and 87. 06% for pistachio cultivar of Kirmizi.