Vibration Mode for Effective Mechanical Harvesting of Shengy Olive

The main aim of this study was to optimize the design parameters of the fruit shakers for efficient harvesting of Shengy olive. A single-degree-of-freedom spring-mass model was established to determine the natural frequency and damping coefficient of the limb. A tractor-mounted shaker that transmits vibration to limbs and fruits via a reciprocating mechanism was fabricated for field evaluation of the forced vibration modes. A 3×4 factorial experiment with a completely randomized design was conducted to investigate the effects of shaking amplitudes and frequencies on fruit removal. The shaking mode with a frequency of 10 Hz and amplitude of 80 mm transmitted the average power of 92 W to remove 95% of fruits in the field trial. This oscillation characteristic should be used to redesign the fruit shakers to pass human safety standards and efficient harvesting.