DESIGN AND EVALUATION A HAND-HELD MACHINE FOR OLIVES HARVESTING

The cost of harvesting olive is probably the major factor in determining whether or not there will be an economically successful season for most farmers. Manual harvesting of fruit accounts for 30 to 60% of the total production costs. The aim of the present study was to design, construct and evaluate a hand-held harvester for olive tree. With the purpose of increasing the mechanization level of the harvest operation and permitting the production of high quality oil; the design was based on the following criteria: using local raw materials in the manufacture of the equipment. Providing simple design and easy in operation. The design is made considering all the mechanical, agronomical and economical aspects involved in this issue. The first step consists in the design of the shacking device used for the separation of the olives from the plant, the next step is the design of the supporting structure, including the arms and the frame; finally there is a description of moving parts of the machine. To evaluate the machine performance, a factorial experiment with complete randomized design in five replications was conducted, the factors being shaking frequency (900, 1250 and 1600 rpm), shaking period (1,2and 3 min) and Three varieties of olives (Krotina -kornaki- Manzanalo) varieties oil, varieties of table to study the effect of the use of different speeds in (rpm) and operating period in (min) on harvesting productivity and damage percent were evaluated. The highest harvesting productivity was at 1600 (rpm) and 3 (min), Low damage percent were evaluated at 900 (rpm) and 3 (min), machine achieved highest productivity and Low damage with Kornaki.