Kushwah Ajay, Sharma P K, Kushwaha H L, Sharma Brij Bihari, Shrivastava A K, Nag Ramineni Harsha, Chowdhury Manojit, Carpenter Gopal, Yadav Rashmi
Research Scholar, Division of Agricultural Engineering, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, 110012, India.
Principal Scientist, Division of Agricultural Engineering, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, 110012, India.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 29;14(1):29709. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-81323-z.
Cauliflower is an important winter crop grown in India, its curds are rich in nutritional profile, containing valuable minerals and vitamins. However, cauliflower harvesting is mainly accomplished by hands, which is time-consuming and requires a high labour force. On the other hand, most developed cauliflower harvesters are once over or single pass type, which harvests all plants irrespective of their maturity. So, the selective harvester could improve the cauliflower curds yield, and then decrease the labour requirement. To improve the cutting performance of the selective cauliflower harvester, the working parameters of the chainsaw cutting mechanism need to be considered and optimized. This research investigates the impact of cutting height, feed (push) force, and cutting speed on the efficiency of the cutter during harvest. The Taguchi approach, together with grey relational analysis (GRA), was employed to identify the most favorable combination of operational parameters. In addition, the variance analysis was conducted to statistically examine the impact of multiple parameters. The findings indicated that the feed force was the major parameter that influenced the cutting force, splitting failure levels, and cutting time. The most effective parameter combination consisted of a cutting height of 15 mm, a feed force of 10 N, and a cutting speed of 5 m/s. The grey relational grade of the ideal parameter combination has shown a 0.322 increase in comparison to the grade achieved with the initially selected parameter combination. This setting was further incorporated in the developed selective cauliflower harvester to improve the performance of its cutting mechanism.
花椰菜是印度种植的一种重要冬季作物，其花球营养丰富，含有珍贵的矿物质和维生素。然而，花椰菜的收获主要靠人工完成，这既耗时又需要大量劳动力。另一方面，大多数已开发的花椰菜收割机是一次性通过或单程型的，无论植株成熟度如何，都会将所有植株收割。因此，选择性收割机可以提高花椰菜的花球产量，进而减少劳动力需求。为了提高选择性花椰菜收割机的切割性能，需要考虑并优化链锯切割机构的工作参数。本研究调查了切割高度、进给（推）力和切割速度对收获过程中切割器效率的影响。采用田口方法结合灰色关联分析（GRA）来确定操作参数的最有利组合。此外，还进行了方差分析，以统计检验多个参数的影响。研究结果表明，进给力是影响切割力、劈裂破坏程度和切割时间的主要参数。最有效的参数组合为切割高度15毫米、进给力10牛和切割速度5米/秒。与最初选择的参数组合相比，理想参数组合的灰色关联度提高了0.322。该设置进一步应用于所开发的选择性花椰菜收割机，以提高其切割机构的性能。
