TITLE:
Photovoltaic Prickle Pear Harvesting Tool
AUTHORS:
Federico Hahn
KEYWORDS:
Prickle Pear; Harvesting Tool; Current Integral
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.4 No.3,
July
1,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Mexico is the largest cactus exporter of the world and 40% of the production cost is provided from the harvest operation. Many workers are required to operate daily and suffer wrist pain after two weeks of collecting pears with mechanical pruners. A motor driven tool supplied from a photovoltaic system was employed for harvesting; different blades were tested at different cutting speeds. It was found that toothed blades sliced the pears with efficiencies over 90%. Abrasive blades were finally selected as the current required per cut was minimum, permitting a longer battery lifetime before requiring recharging.