IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v12y2022i2p312-d754823.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influencing Factors of Cutting Force for Apple Tree Branch Pruning

Author

Listed:
  • Chengjun Li

    (School of Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Hanshi Zhang

    (School of Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Qingchun Wang

    (School of Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Zhongjia Chen

    (School of Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

Apple, which occupies the first position in the world with regard to its yield, is an important economic crop in China. Pruning of apple trees is still dominated by manual pruning, resulting in high labor costs and low efficiency. Additionally, there are some limitations with pruning machines. Thus, research regarding the mechanical properties of apple branches is the basis for the designing proper pruning machine. This paper aims to study the effect of the feed rate, cutting line speed, branch diameter, and moisture content on the cutting force. Results revealed that cutting force depended on the feed rate, cutting line speed, and branch diameter. Furthermore, both the cutting line speed and the branch diameter had a significant effect on the cutting force ( p < 0.01), while the feed rate had a small effect on the cutting force ( p > 0.05). However, the moisture content had no effect on the cutting force, with a difference of cutting force between samples with moisture content of 15% and 50% less than 5%. Based on the experiments performed, an equation relating the feed rate, the cutting line speed, the branch diameter was derived to calculate the cutting force. By verification test, it established that regression equation was valid with error less than 4%. This study explored the mechanical properties of apple branch, and obtained the optimal cutting parameters, which can provide a reference for the design of the pruning machine.

Suggested Citation

  • Chengjun Li & Hanshi Zhang & Qingchun Wang & Zhongjia Chen, 2022. "Influencing Factors of Cutting Force for Apple Tree Branch Pruning," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-10, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:2:p:312-:d:754823
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/2/312/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/2/312/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sally A. Bound, 2021. "Managing Crop Load in European Pear ( Pyrus communis L.)—A Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-26, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charan Vikram & Sidharth Jeyabal & Prithvi Krishna Chittoor & Sathian Pookkuttath & Mohan Rajesh Elara & Wang You, 2024. "KOALA: A Modular Dual-Arm Robot for Automated Precision Pruning Equipped with Cross-Functionality Sensor Fusion," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Teng Wu & Fanting Kong & Lei Shi & Qing Xie & Yongfei Sun & Changlin Chen, 2022. "Power Consumption Influence Test of Castor Disc-Cutting Device," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Daipeng Lu & Wei Wang & Encai Bao & Shilin Wang & Xue Wu & Zongchun Bai & Yuxin Tang, 2022. "Cutting Mechanical Properties of Pumpkin Grafted Seedling Investigated by Finite Element Simulation and Experiment," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-18, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:12:y:2022:i:2:p:312-:d:754823. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.