Design and development of a watermelon harvesting & collecting machine

Anuar Abdullah, . and Teoh, Chin Chuang and Rohazrin Abdul Rani, . and Wan Mohd Aznan B. Wan Ahamad, . and Hafidha Azmon, . and Mohd Fazly Mail, . and Mohd Shahmihaizah Mat Jusoh, . and Mohamad Fakhrul Zaman Omar, . and Mohd Nadzim Nordin, . and Khairul Idzwan Ayub, . and Mohd Fadly Abdull Rasid, . and Norahshekin Abdul Rahman, . and Noraznal Mohd Zainal, . (2022) Design and development of a watermelon harvesting & collecting machine. International Journal of Agriculture, Forestry and Plantation (Malaysia), 12. pp. 106-111. ISSN 2462-1757

Watermelon harvesting and collection are currently done by manual. It requires approximately 7-8 manpower to complete the harvesting operation. It is also a very laborious operation since the harvesting operation must be completed in a short period of time with an estimated yield of 25 to 30 tons/hectare. However, because of the fruit's fragility, handling of watermelon during harvesting must be done with caution. Therefore, this paper describes the design and testing of a watermelon harvesting and collecting machine. The aim of the study was to design and fabricate a prototype machine that can be used for watermelon harvesting and collecting activities for open field cultivation. The main criteria that was taken into considerations during designing and evaluation of the prototype machine are its reliability in terms of working mechanism, field capacity and field efficiency. In addition, operational cost and post-harvest losses are also evaluated in this experiment by comparing to the existing method. The prototype machine is made up of two trailer compartments with a maximum capacity, 1.5 tons which connected to a four- wheel drive (4WD) tractor. A 6-meter-long conveyer is installed between the trailer compartments to assist operators in transporting harvested watermelon from a farm to the trailer and from the trailer to a collection center or directly to a transporter. The conveyor itself was designed with a two-way conveyor belt, allowing it to move in both directions via a hydraulic gear. Aside from that, the conveyor belt can be tilted to compensate for uneven farm surfaces or plant-bed height. It was also intended to transfer the collected watermelon to a higher transporter, such as an open load lorry, 10-ton capacity with a maximum tilt height 8 meters. To reduce post-harvest losses during the process, a rubber conveyor and an aluminum separator are used to absorb the load from a watermelon as well as to protect the watermelon from mechanical injury. According to the evaluation, the prototype machine's field capacity is 0.11ha/hour with a field efficiency of 78.6 %. Meanwhile, post-harvest losses were recorded at 1.7 % per hectare.

Full text available from: Official URL: https://ijafp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IJAFP...

Abstract

Watermelon harvesting and collection are currently done by manual. It requires approximately 7-8 manpower to complete the harvesting operation. It is also a very laborious operation since the harvesting operation must be completed in a short period of time with an estimated yield of 25 to 30 tons/hectare. However, because of the fruit's fragility, handling of watermelon during harvesting must be done with caution. Therefore, this paper describes the design and testing of a watermelon harvesting and collecting machine. The aim of the study was to design and fabricate a prototype machine that can be used for watermelon harvesting and collecting activities for open field cultivation. The main criteria that was taken into considerations during designing and evaluation of the prototype machine are its reliability in terms of working mechanism, field capacity and field efficiency. In addition, operational cost and post-harvest losses are also evaluated in this experiment by comparing to the existing method. The prototype machine is made up of two trailer compartments with a maximum capacity, 1.5 tons which connected to a four- wheel drive (4WD) tractor. A 6-meter-long conveyer is installed between the trailer compartments to assist operators in transporting harvested watermelon from a farm to the trailer and from the trailer to a collection center or directly to a transporter. The conveyor itself was designed with a two-way conveyor belt, allowing it to move in both directions via a hydraulic gear. Aside from that, the conveyor belt can be tilted to compensate for uneven farm surfaces or plant-bed height. It was also intended to transfer the collected watermelon to a higher transporter, such as an open load lorry, 10-ton capacity with a maximum tilt height 8 meters. To reduce post-harvest losses during the process, a rubber conveyor and an aluminum separator are used to absorb the load from a watermelon as well as to protect the watermelon from mechanical injury. According to the evaluation, the prototype machine's field capacity is 0.11ha/hour with a field efficiency of 78.6 %. Meanwhile, post-harvest losses were recorded at 1.7 % per hectare.

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Item Type:	Article
AGROVOC Term:	watermelons
AGROVOC Term:	harvesting
AGROVOC Term:	collection
AGROVOC Term:	mechanization
AGROVOC Term:	milking machines
AGROVOC Term:	tractors
AGROVOC Term:	field capacity
Geographical Term:	Malaysia
Depositing User:	Mr. Khoirul Asrimi Md Nor
Date Deposited:	20 May 2026 07:57
Last Modified:	20 May 2026 07:57
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/3913

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