Rotating Pine Cone Harvesting Implement for Crooked Trees
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pine cone harvesting equipment is not suitable for remote, irregularly grown pine trees and fails to efficiently collect pine cones without damaging the tree, as it cannot access the main stem and does not differentiate between cone maturity levels.
Innovation Solution
A pine cone harvesting implement with gripping, vibrating, and coupling means that can grip, vibrate, and rotate to adapt to pine tree conditions, using a vehicle for transport and varying vibration patterns to detach pine cones effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If general tree shaking equipment is used for pine trees, then the equipment can be simpler and cheaper, but it cannot access the main stem of pine trees grown in remote areas with irregular soil
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping means are made rotatable along tilt axis and pan axis, allowing the device to dynamically adjust its orientation and adapt to the irregular growth patterns of pine trees in remote areas, resolving the contradiction between equipment simplicity and adaptability to main stem access
2Productivity
If high intensity shaking is used to harvest all pine cones, then more cones can be collected, but the tree may be harmed
Solution Approach 1:
The vibrating means operate in periodic cycles with varying frequencies and intensities, allowing efficient cone detachment while providing rest periods for the tree, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and tree protection
Solution Approach 2:
The device changes vibration parameters (frequency and intensity) adaptively during operation, using higher intensities when needed for cone detachment and lower intensities to protect the tree, resolving the contradiction between cone collection efficiency and tree harm
3Device complexity
If conventional vibration patterns are used, then the equipment structure is simpler, but it cannot effectively detach pine cones at different maturity levels
Solution Approach 1:
The vibrating means dynamically adjust vibration frequency and intensity in response to tree conditions and cone maturity levels, achieving effective detachment across different cone types without requiring overly complex fixed-pattern mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The device employs variable vibration patterns with multiple frequencies and intensities to address different cone maturity levels, resolving the contradiction between device simplicity and cone detachment effectiveness
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 implement efficiently harvests pine cones from sloped or crooked trees by gripping the main stem, rotating, and vibrating at adjustable frequencies and intensities, enhancing detachment and adaptability across different tree parameters.
Implementation Method 1
vibrating means configured to, when the gripping means are in the closed position, cause the gripping means to vibrate and thereby vibrate a gripped pine tree in at least one frequency and at least one intensity
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The present disclosure refers to the field of pine cone harvesters. Pine harvesters known in the art may take different forms, consisting of hand tools usable by a person or heavier equipment, for instance including a vehicle with the ability to harvest pines from pine trees. Still, they tend to be simple adaptations of the solutions suitable for other applications, particularly those in which a tree is shaken as a whole in order for its fruit or produce to fall down, such as olive harvesters for olive trees. The present disclosure includes a pine cone harvesting implement (10) which rotates gripping means (11) to a rotated position along a tilt axis perpendicular to the gravity vector and/or a pan axis parallel to the gravity vector, and actuates vibrating means to vibrate and, thereby, vibrate the gripping means (11) and the pine tree, when the gripping means (11) are in the rotated position.