Design, Development and FEA of 3-Point Actuated Digging and Conveyor System for Self-Propelled Onion Harvester

Abstract

India is the second largest producer of onions in the world next to China. But the productivity of onions in India is very low i.e. 14.21 tons/ha. There is a huge requirement of man power and time, as harvesting of onions is a rigorous work. Our motive being to conceive, design, fabricate and develop "3-Point Actuated Self-propelled Onion Harvester" i.e. to develop a mechanized technique for onion harvesting which can run on vehicle power supply and won't require any other external power source. This system will have better performance in terms of productivity, fuel economy, operator comfort and reduce the damage to crops, human fatigue, and time. There are majorly two systems working simultaneously which are the digging system-to loosen the soil and get the onion bulbs out without damaging and conveying system that conveys the onion bulbs. Various factors are considered for designing such as type of soil, depth of onion bulbs, size of onion bulbs and damage to onion bulbs. Keywords-1. 3 point actuator system 2.Self Propelled 3.Less damage to onion bulbs 4.Productivity 5.FEA Analysis