Pneumatic Fruit Transport with Sealing Baffles
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Solution Overview
Problem
The fruit picking process is inefficient due to the manual handling of apples, which results in low productivity, fatigue, and bruising, and the seasonal nature of the harvest often leads to a shortage of laborers, as handpicking requires significant time and effort, limiting selectivity and gentleness in fruit handling.
Innovation Solution
A pneumatic tube system with sealing baffles is used to transport picked fruit quickly and gently along a tube pathway, allowing for efficient movement of fruit of various sizes and shapes without the need for a capsule, reducing bruising and enhancing productivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If fruit is handpicked and manually handled, then selectivity of fruit can be maintained, but productivity is low and time consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical handling with a pneumatic transport system. Pickers deposit fruit into tubes, and pneumatic pressure propels the fruit through sealed tubes to collection bins, eliminating the need for manual carrying and transfer operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses pneumatic tubes with pressurized air to transport fruit. A fan or blower creates positive pressure inside sealed tubes, propelling fruit from picker deposit points to collection bins without manual intervention.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If fruit is manually carried in picker bags, then fruit can be transported, but fruit bruising occurs due to rough handling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual carrying in bags with pneumatic propulsion through sealed tubes. Fruit is gently propelled by air pressure and guided by baffles, eliminating contact with rough bag surfaces and manual handling that causes bruising.
Solution Approach 2:
The pneumatic tube system acts as an intermediary between the picker and collection bin. Fruit travels through the sealed tube environment with pneumatic propulsion and baffle guidance, isolated from direct human contact and rough handling surfaces.
3Productivity
If pickers spend time on non-picking activities like moving and transferring fruit, then productivity decreases, but manual handling allows flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The pneumatic tube system is passive and self-operating. Once fruit is deposited into the tube opening, the pneumatic pressure automatically propels it through the system to collection bins without requiring picker intervention or complex control mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex manual transfer operations with a simple pneumatic transport infrastructure. Pickers only need to deposit fruit into tube openings; the pneumatic system handles all transport, positioning, and transfer operations automatically.
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 pneumatic tube system significantly reduces the time spent on fruit handling, increases picker efficiency, and minimizes fruit damage, enabling more selective and gentle handling while addressing labor shortages by enhancing the speed and ease of fruit collection.
Implementation Method 1
a system involving specially modified and augmented pneumatic tubes
Data Source
AI summary
A device for transporting articles is disclosed. In the illustrated and described embodiment of the invention, the articles are fruit such as apples, and the articles can be transported from a picking location on a fruit tree to a collection bin or other site. The device includes a tube member adapted to receive and transport the articles, and a plurality of deformable baffles at spaced-apart locations within the tube. Each baffle defines an aperture which permits the article to engage and deform the baffle and aperture so as to create at least a partial momentary seal to encourage article movement through the aperture and down the tube. The article is urged through the tube by a pressure differential created across the article. In the described and illustrated embodiment of the invention, this pressure differential is a pneumatic pressure differential. The tube and the baffle apertures can have non-circular cross-sectional shapes.