Engineering Characteristics and Potential Energy of Oil Palm Fruit Bunches Harvesting

Abstract

In oil palm harvesting, falling fruit bunches have a considerable potential energy, which can be captured and used to power the evacuation of fruit bunches. Therefore, this study was conducted to measure the engineering characteristics of fruit bunches harvesting, determine the best fruit bunches catchment platform material, and analyze the potential energy of the falling fruit bunch when harvested. Observations and measurements of the characteristics of the harvesting were done in an oil palm plantation, with three variations of the height of fruit, namely: approximately 3 m, 9 m and 15 m. Four types of fruit catchment platform materials were tested, namely: steel plate, wood board, expanded steel plate and rubber sheet. When harvesting, falling fruit bunch was videotaped, then some measurements were done, including: the height of the fruit, harvester distance to the tree, fallen fruit bunch distance to the tree, size and weight of the fruit bunch, scattering distance of detached fruits, detached fruits weight, and number of bruised fruits after the collision with the catchment platform. The results showed that, when harvesting, harvesters took a distance of about 1.5 to 3 m to the tree. Bunches fell at a distance between 0.6 m to 1.4 m from the tree. The average fallen bunches distance to the tree at the height of the fruit of 3 m, 9 m, and 15 m were 1.75 m, 2 m, and 2.4 m, respectively . The rubber catchment platform was superior to the other materials in reducing the scattered loose fruits and bruised fruits. The weight of the fruit bunches were in the range of 16 kg to 32 kg. The average potential energy at the height of the fruit of 3 m, 9 m, and 15 m were 0.6 kJ, 2.0 kJ, and 3.6 kJ, respectively.