Arabica Coffee Cherry Harvester

By: Joselyn Castillo, Kevin Ward, Brooke WillinAcademic Advisor: Dr. Cesar Levy

Senior Design 1: EML 4551April 22, 2015

AgendaProblem Statement

Motivation

Global Issues

Goals

Engineering Standards/Application

Design Alternatives

Conclusion

Problem Statement

Hand Picking-To Slow-Significant manual labor

Economically Impractical

Resolution: Machine to facilitate the picking without causing harm to the plant

Strip Harvesting-Lowers quality-Harmful to plant

Motivation

Man Portable Device

Increase Quantity & Quality of

Coffee

Decrease Child Labor

Global Issues

1.Manual Labor

2.Economy

3.Environment Conditions

Global Issues• Picking cherries is demanding → involves kids to

help pick cherries all day too

• Example: In Nicaragua, farmers quota is 100 lb. of coffee beans per day to get paid minimum wage

• In South America, most coffee tree plants are grown in mountains, difficult to carry heavy equipment

Goals

To improve the process of picking

coffee beans and quality

Gather 70% of cherries at

prime maturity

Portable Machine

Decrease Labor Time

Affordable to farmers

Arabica Coffee Cherry Characteristics

Light RedYellow Purple Immature Mature

• Color Range from Immaturity to Over-Maturity:

• Strength Range in Sessile Attachment from Immaturity to Maturity:

• Size Range from Immaturity to Maturity:

Becomes Weaker

Grows In Size

• A gearing system will be implemented to rotate components at different RPM’s

Engineering Applications

Frequency of Vibration:

• Quantifying shearing force needed to detach mature and immature fruit

Wireless Receiver:

Testing and Modeling:

Gearing System:

Shearing Force:

• SolidWorks modeling will be used to model and test our proposed design

• The Vibrating mechanism may need to be switched on through wireless signal

• Quantification of frequency of vibrations for mature and immature cherries

Engineering Standards • NSPE: National Society of Professional Engineers &

• ASME: American Society of Mechanical Engineers Code of ethics & safety codes To ensure proper design practices are followed

• ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials Quality and effective materials chosen

• AGMA: American Gear Manufacturers Association Gearing system needed to rotate our design at a

specified RPM

• USDA: United States Department of Agriculture Coffee plant characteristics

Design Idea I

Design Idea II

Design Components I1) Material Choices:

• Carbon Fiber: Lightweight Durable 3D Printable Costly

• Aluminum Alloy: Lightweight Durable Inexpensive

Design Components II2) Powering Options:• Solar Panels:

Clean energy Might not supply sufficient power in a

practical manner• Gas powered motor:

Not Clean energy Will supply the necessary power needed Readily available

• Hybrid: A combination of gas and solar energy used

to power harvester

Economics Aspect

• Current machinery cost $1000+

• Besides labor costs, the machine costs outweighs cost of coffee income

• Less material and equipment cost low

Arabica Coffee Cherry Harvester Timeline 2015

Conclusion• Goal: Gather 70% of Cherries picked as

ripened

• Design: Improve upon design and begin building throughout the next couple of months Make it light enough to be man portable

• Global: Decrease work intensity and increase quantity without affecting quality