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has been cited by the following article:

• 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.