DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A CABBAGE LOADER

Cabbage is the most important vegetables in korea. The cabbage production was based on arduous human labor. A comprehensive research for substituting the human work by machines has been performed at present. In general, cabbage is cultivated on hillside in korea. The harvested cabbage in a field and carrying it to a vehicle for transportation are very laborious work. Hand labor in cabbage transportation to the market damages the quality of cabbage and is also a cause to increase the cost of cabbage production. This study was to design and evaluate a prototype cabbage loader for deserving efficient and safe transportation of cabbage. The developed cabbage loader was a semi-tracked vehicle operated by a hydraulic system, allowing the safe transporting and the loading of cabbage in a steep field. The maximum loading capacity of the loader was 1.0 ton. By using safety devices attached to the loader, the static slopes were 34.0% and 37.4% for the left and the rear roll-over, respectively. The maximum field speed was about 6km/hr with two cabbage pallets of 750kg at a 25% inclined field. The field capacity was about 35 pallets/hr in case of picking up, carrying and unloading two cabbage pallets. The field efficiency of the loader was analyzed to be more than 8 times in comparison of the conventional human labor. The developed loader would be applied for loading and carrying the other vegetables due to the similarity of operations. The study suggested a standard approach to the design of field machines operated in a steep field.