Rotating Support Structure for Automated Vegetable Sucker Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current sucker-removing devices for vegetable plants, such as hazelnut trees and grapevines, are time-consuming and require frequent user intervention, limiting efficiency and automation due to the need for specific arm movements to reach suckers on the plant diameter.
Innovation Solution
A sucker-removing device with a horizontally extending arm and a support structure that rotates idle relative to a vertical axis, equipped with disc cutting elements and protrusions, allowing for automatic positioning and simultaneous cutting of multiple suckers without requiring specific arm movements, and incorporating a shock-absorbing mechanism to prevent plant damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a disc-shaped cutting device is mounted on a movable arm with protrusions forming cavities, then suckers can be removed without damaging the plant trunk, but suckers located on the diameter of the plant can only be reached by executing specific arm movements which are time-consuming and require continual user intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is made dynamically rotatable about a vertical axis, allowing the cutting device to automatically track and engage suckers along the plant diameter without requiring manual repositioning of the entire arm assembly. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by enabling continuous sucker removal while maintaining plant protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The device segments the arm into two independently functional parts: a movable arm for positioning and a rotatable support structure for continuous sucker engagement. This segmentation allows the support structure to rotate independently to access suckers on the plant diameter, improving productivity while the arm maintains protective positioning.
2Productivity
If the arm is positioned to reach suckers on the plant diameter, then more suckers can be removed, but the plant trunk may be damaged by the cutting device or support structure
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable support structure acts as an intermediary between the arm and the suckers. It allows the cutting device to reach suckers on the plant diameter through rotation while the arm maintains a protective distance from the trunk, preventing direct contact and potential damage to the plant.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structure adds a rotational degree of freedom about a vertical axis, creating a new dimensional capability. This allows the cutting device to access suckers along the plant diameter without moving the arm closer to the trunk, thus removing suckers in the horizontal dimension while maintaining vertical protection distance.
Data Source
AI summary
An agricultural machine including a vegetable sucker-removing device includes: an arm extending from the agricultural machine; at least one actuator device; a support structure extending to the arm, the support structure being coupled to the arm by a main shaft extending along a vertical main axis, at least one first bearing interposed between the main shaft and the arm, and at least one second bearing interposed between the main shaft and the support structure, a cutting system including at least a first disc and a second disc, wherein the first disc is coupled to the support structure by a first shaft extending from the first disc along a first axis of rotation, and wherein the second disc is coupled to the support structure by a second shaft extending from the second disc along a second axis of rotation, a transmission system connecting the actuator device to the main shaft and the main shaft to the first shaft of the first disc and to the second shaft of the second disc.