Design, Construction and Evaluation of Cherry Tomato Sorter Machine

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Biosystem Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Lorestan University, Lorestan, Iran

2 Department of Biosystem Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali sina University, Hamedn, Iran

10.22084/best.2025.30295.1001

Abstract

 There are very few mechanized and intelligent methods for separating produced, especially agricultural products, and among them, products such as cherry tomatoes, which have a high production rate in Iran, require grading and sorting to help human resources increase productivity and prevent the fruit from opening during harvesting, grading, storage, and shipping to places of consumption. The device was designed using SolidWorks 2019 software, and the data was analyzed with SPSS software and modeled with Abaqus software. This machine is capable of separating the mentioned fruit into three sizes: large, medium, and small diameters. Three treatments were considered based on size, variety, and moisture
percentage. After being released on the belt, the fruits entered the perforated roller, which performed the sorting operation in three sizes. The purpose of this research was to design, construct, and evaluate this device, and to introduce a dedicated device for cherry tomatoes as a practical product in Iran. The results showed that by using the device, it was registered and presented for 100 cherry tomatoes and finally provided an acceptable answer with 89% correct separation. Modeling for the machine showed that the size model presented with a coefficient of explanation of 85% was significant. The regression model showed that by increasing the distance between the holes by one unit, the percentage of healthy
fruit will increase by 67%. This value can be minimized by eliminating the causes of the error, and as a result, this device can be used for sorting cherry tomatoes with a high degree of reliability and high speed (89% resolution).

Keywords

References

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Biosystems Engineering and Sustainable Technologies
Volume 1, Issue 1
March 2025
Pages 13-23

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