Determination of Development Strategy for a Pepper Harvester

고추수확기의 개발방향 설정

Pepper is the most important horticultural plant in Korean farm. Pepper harvesting has been known to be the most difficult process in pepper cultivation so that demand for mechanization is strong. In a research to develop a pepper harvesting machine performance and capacity of the harvester should be determined based on both economical feasibility and machine design concept. In order to accomplish an economical analysis of the pepper harvester, a mathematical model for comparing manual harvesting cost to machine harvest cost was developed. Validity of the model depends on the data used in the model. Economical information for the model variables was acquired from the result of farm survey on pepper cultivation technique and economics of pepper farmer. Technical information on pepper harvester were also collected through literature review and analyzed. Based on the economical analysis and synthesis of the technical information on pepper harvesters, its performance and capacity were determined. The operating performances of the harvester such as cutting, conveying, flipping, pepper removing and post-processing (sorting) were determined. Daisy capacity of the machine was determined to be 0.41 ha. A pepper harvester with the suggested capacity was economically feasible if the price of pepper harvester, pepper recovery ratio and service life of harvester were about 6 million won, 80%, and 4 years, respectively.