Design, Construction and Evaluation of Chrysanthemum Flower Stem Cleaner Machine

The purpose of the present study is to design, construct and evaluate a prototype flower stem cleaner machine. Designing the processing equipments of agricultural products requires information about their physical and mechanical properties. In order to construct the design, the effect of leaf picking velocity and the tensile direction and location were studied on maximum picking force and energy. Results showed that picking force and deformation data ranged from 18 to 61 N and from 4.1 to 8.7 mm, respectively. The mean values of tangent modulus for top and bottom groups were 7.22 MPa and 10.1 MPa, respectively. The effect of the picking velocity, the location and stretch direction on the picking force and the tangent modulus was significant (P = 0.01). After measuring the physical and mechanical properties of stems, the machine were designed and constructed. Machine design is based on the use of the rotational axis hit with leaves, which causes leaves to release from the stem. The prototype consists of two axes: rubber fingers that are oriented at angles of 90 degrees on axes, and an axis distance control mechanism and transmission system. After completing the design and construction, the prototype was evaluated to determine the optimum operating conditions. For this purpose, the effects of rotational speed in five levels (200, 350, 500, 650, 800 rpm), axis distance in five levels (-10, -5, 0, +5, +10 mm) and hardness of fingers in two levels (30, 60 shore A) are studied. In the best condition, the machine is able to remove 100% of the leaves. Optimal working conditions happened with 500 rpm for rotational speed, -5 mm for axis distance and 60 shore A for finger hardness. The prototype had the capacity of twenty flower stems cleaning at an average time of 10 s.© 2014 Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial