Chestnut Picking System with Fingered Bed Rollers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for harvesting chestnuts from their protective burrs are inefficient, particularly during the harvesting process, due to the burrs' spiny characteristics causing them to adhere to each other and requiring significant force to separate.
Innovation Solution
A chestnut picking system comprising a gathering assembly with a mesh belt and a conveyor assembly featuring bed rollers with outwardly extending fingers, which rotate at different speeds to separate chestnuts from burrs by impacting the burrs with sufficient speed to dislodge them, allowing chestnuts to fall through the rollers into a collector.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional methods (hand harvesting, rolling drums, screens, air systems) are used to separate chestnuts from burrs, then the separation process can be performed, but the process is inefficient and requires significant manual effort due to the spiny characteristics of burrs causing them to adhere to each other
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic elements including a rotating drum conveyor that moves chestnuts and burrs through the system, and flexible fingers mounted on the drum that move relative to the chestnuts during separation. The fingers are positioned to contact and strike the chestnuts as they rotate, creating a dynamic separation mechanism that overcomes the adhesive properties of spiny burrs without requiring excessive manual force.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces traditional mechanical separation methods (hand harvesting, rolling drums, screens, air systems) with a novel mechanism featuring a rotating drum with flexible fingers. This mechanical substitution uses controlled impact forces from the rotating fingers to dislodge chestnuts from burrs, achieving separation more efficiently than previous mechanical approaches while reducing manual effort.
2Reliability
If burrs are allowed to adhere to each other due to their spiny characteristics, then they remain protected during handling, but separation becomes particularly difficult during the harvesting process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the separation function from the overall harvesting process by implementing a dedicated drum with fingers specifically designed to remove chestnuts from burrs. The fingers are positioned to contact and strike the chestnuts, extracting them from the burrs through controlled impact, thereby simplifying the separation task from the complex harvesting operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating drum with flexible fingers serves as an intermediary mechanism between the gathered chestnuts and burrs and the separation process. The fingers act as mediators that transfer kinetic energy to the chestnuts, facilitating their release from burrs without requiring direct complex mechanical manipulation of the adhesive spiny structures.
3Loss of time
If traditional separation methods are used subsequent to collection and harvesting, then separation can be performed, but it is historically difficult to efficiently remove and separate chestnuts from burrs during the harvesting process itself
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary separation action by integrating the drum with fingers directly into the harvesting process. As chestnuts and burrs are gathered and conveyed, they pass through the drum mechanism which immediately begins the separation process through finger contact and impact, performing the separation action before the harvesting is complete rather than as a subsequent separate operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating drum with fingers provides continuous separation action throughout the harvesting process. The continuous rotation of the drum ensures that chestnuts and burrs are constantly subjected to the separating mechanism as they move through the system, maintaining uninterrupted separation action that improves overall productivity and reduces total processing time.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively separates chestnuts from burrs during the harvesting process, reducing manual effort and improving efficiency by utilizing the speed and resilience of the bed rollers' fingers to dislodge burrs while allowing chestnuts to fall into a collector.
Implementation Method 1
impacting the burrs with sufficient speed to dislodge them
Implementation Method 2
The bed rollers are spaced apart from each other a bed roller spacing. At least one of the plurality of bed rollers includes a plurality of spaced apart fingers extending outwardly from the outer surface thereof
Implementation Method 3
The tip linear speed is at least 1.10 times that of the mesh belt linear speed. In some configurations, the tip linear speed is at least three times that of the mesh belt linear speed.
Data Source
AI summary
A nut picking system suitable for picking chestnuts having a gathering assembly, and a conveyor assembly. The gathering assembly has an intake and a mesh belt associated with the intake. The gathering assembly gathers chestnuts and burrs through the intake to from the mesh belt at the dispensing axle. The conveyor assembly includes a frame, bed rollers and a conveyor drive. The frame has a conveyor sides, a feed and discharge end. Each bed roller has a first end and a second end and outer surface. The bed rollers are rotatably coupled to the frame, and are spaced apart from each. The bed rollers include a plurality of spaced apart fingers extending outwardly from the outer surface and terminating in a tip. The fingers have a length that is greater than the bed roller spacing. The conveyor drive rotates the bed rollers. Methods are likewise disclosed.