(Artist rendering)
Features:
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One man operation (the tractor driver) .
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Fully automatic, just drive down the row, the machine does the rest.
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Super simple and very easy to adjust, maintain and repair.
Specifications:
Harvesting width - 24"
Weight: 1,800 pounds
Length: 13 Ft.
Wheel centers: 44 inches
Tire size: 7.50-20
Fuel tank for compressor: 10 gallons.
Requires a hydraulic circuit from the tractor ( Total of about 5 gallons per minute @ 1,000 Psi)
Minimum spear height: 9 inches.
Estimated maximum harvesting speed: 2 - 3 mph.
Estimated yield: 70% or better.
Price: $99,000
Price subject to change without notice.
See videos of our prototypes: Harvesting Clips
The harvester cuts and picks up asparagus spears the same way as the
field workers do. The machine has electronic eyes,
arms equipped with
asparagus knives, and rubber fingers to pick up the spears.
The machine travels down the bed looking
with its photo-electric eyes for spears tall enough to harvest just as the
human
workers do. The machine then gently grips the harvestable spears with
its rubber fingers, before cutting the spear with a
knife that is similar to the knives used by the field workers.
Once the spear is cut, the rubber fingers transfer the spear via a conveyor
to a box. Like the field hands, the machine places
the spears in the box all
oriented in the same direction for easy handling.
How It Works
If a spear is tall enough to reach the spear
sensor, the sensor measures the speed of the spear,
determines which channel the spear is passing through, and sends the information to a computer.
Next, the spear is gripped by soft rubber fingers on counter rotating shafts, which pull up on the spear.
When the spear reaches the correct position for cutting, the computer fires the correct blade.
Once the spear is cut, it travels through the rollers up to the backstop.
The spears slide down the backstop and end up traveling on the conveyor butt first out to the box.
The conveyor then drops the spears into a lug box, all lined up and pointing the same direction.
When the box gets full, a horn sounds to alert the driver to swap a empty lug with the full one.
Spears that pass through the rubber fingers, but are not tall enough to harvest and don't get cut,
pass through un-damaged.
1. Spear is detected by spear sensor
2. Spear is grasped by rubber fingered rollers
3. Spear is cut while being pulled on by
rubber fingers
4. Cut spear is lifted to conveyor by transfer
rollers
5. Conveyor transfers spears to a box, lined up
and oriented
Field Testing A Prototype In Nyssa Oregon - Spring 2017
This is a picture of one of the fields where we harvested with the machine.
The Prototype
<
Me, Bill Lund, the inventor.
Check back in March 2021 to see our harvesting schedule!