Design and Evaluation of Tea-Plucking Machine for Improving Quality of Tea

Abstract. Tea harvesting has always been tedious work. Tea harvesting mechanization is still incomplete in most tea-planting areas. To improve the mechanization of tea plucking, this article introduces a self-propelled track-type tea-plucking machine which mainly consists of a track chassis, an elevator system, a cutting system, and a transmission system. In this article, the structure and functions of the main parts of the self-propelled tea-plucking machine are introduced in detail. Additionally, the rigid body motion model was established. Next, orthogonal experiments (the factors were travel speed and the speed ratio of cutting to traveling) were conducted with three factor levels, and to choose the optimal factor level combination, fuzzy synthesize evaluation was conducted on the results of the orthogonal experiments. The motion model showing that the cutter moves in a cosine law and that the inertia force of the drive shaft and blades also move in a cosine law while working. The experiment reveals that (1) both travel speed and speed ratio of cutting to traveling have a significant effect on the quality (integrity rate, unpicking rate, stubble unevenness) of plucked tea leaves, and (2) the interaction affects only the integrity rate. The fuzzy synthesize evaluation indicates that the optimal factors are as follows: the cutting speed is 0.3 m/s, and the speed ratio of cutting to traveling is 1.0. With this set of parameters, the plucking integrity increased by 20% compared with Japan’s ride-on-type tea-plucking machine. This research made considerable progress in the mechanization of tea plucking, which reduces the cost for employing pickers, enhances the earnings of farmers by improving the quality and price of tea, and supports the sustainable development of tea industry. Keywords: Agricultural machinery, Experiment, Fuzzy synthesize evaluation, Harvest, Hydraulic, Tea.