Lettuce Harvester Development (Part 2): Improvement of Cutting Mechanism and Development of Conveyance Device

摘要

Our first step was to develop a cutting mechanism. The "parallel link disc guide system" which we developed is a simple mechanism. It enables the machine to cut off the lettuce almost perfectly without damage by devising the position of a fixed blade and supporting parts. This cutting mechanism is also capable of cutting Chinese cabbage with the adjustment of the position of the parts. We tested the device in the field after adjusting the heights of the blade. It proved to be difficult to cut off lettuce heads of a consistent, standard size. Therefore, after considering the characteristics of conveyance devices of other vegetable harvesters, we developed a conveyance device which lifts up lettuce smoothly. This test machine -a combination of these cutting mechanism and conveyance device- proved that it is possible to cut off the lettuce heads and lift them up without causing them any damage.