Machines for harvesting leafy greens

Cultivation of such crops as dill, parsley, cilantro (coriander), sorrel, arugula and other small-leaved salads includes the most difficult and responsible final stage - cleaning. The difficulty lies in the need to cut the leaves exactly at a certain level, the danger of accidental damage to the delicate produce, the small size of the harvested product and the short harvesting times, as the plants quickly lose their fresh appearance.

Traditionally, cleaning is done manually with the involvement of a large number of labor. This kind of work requires attentiveness, accuracy, a certain skill and is usually paid for above other types of field work because of the complexity and laboriousness.

Manual cleaning consists of the following basic operations: cutting the product, forming bundles, bundling bundles, laying bundles in boxes or boxes.

The question of mechanization of harvesting of green crops arises, one way or another, especially with the increase in areas under crops of these crops. Machines for harvesting leafy greens are self-propelled or trailed to the tractor platforms on which all the main working organs and operator's places are installed.

The design of the machines consists of the platform itself on wheels or tracks, cutters, a conveyor belt for a cut product, a work table and a preparation line for linking, packing and packaging products, storage areas for boxes or boxes with finished products. Of the most common additional options can be installed: awning for sun protection, equipment for cleaning products, a system for tying in bundles, shakers conveyor belt.

The process of mechanized harvesting repeats almost all manual cleaning operations.

The production is cut at a precisely specified height automatically by means of a special belt knife with an electronic sensor with a photocell which allows for an ideally precise cut regardless of the unevenness of the soil, for which a copy roller is installed.

Then, the cut product enters the conveyor belt from special food rubber. This belt has a hydraulic drive with adjustable speed.

After that, the products get to the sorting table and the preparation line, where the operators manually and semi-automatically perform the primary processing, packaging and storage of leafy greens. Depending on the specifics of harvesting and the type of culture, the machines can be optionally equipped with additional systems for commodity preparation of products, its reloading into a trailer or trailer, unloading pallets with boxes behind the machine.

Self-propelled versions of cars have a diesel engine with a capacity of about 30 hp, four-wheel drive and autopilot. For the operation of trailers, a tractor with a capacity of 50 hp is required, equipped with hydraulic and electrical systems and a three-point hitch.

The working speed of machines for harvesting greens averages about 3-5 km / h, and productivity - up to 5 hectares a day.

In the presence of special options machines for harvesting leafy greens allow almost completely to prepare the product for sale in a fresh form, and for the preparation of green crops for further processing (drying, grinding, food production), more simplified and cheaper models are produced with a minimum set of operations: Overload in the trailer.

The main advantages of using this type of technology are: high productivity, replacement of heavy manual labor, minimal losses during harvesting, high quality of harvested products, cost savings and lower production costs.