Development and Performance Evaluation of Falling-type Dried-Persimmon Weight Sorting System Utilizing Load Cell

Purpose: A falling-type weight sorter equipped with a load cell was developed to sort lightweight dried persimmons. The performance of the sorter was also evaluated. Methods: The electronic weight sorter for dried persimmon comprises a feeder part, a weight-measurement part, an indicator part, a carrier cup, a discharging part, and a driving part. The weight setting and zero-point adjustment are performed digitally for the convenience of users. For the experimental trials, 228 rubber-clay specimens (representative of dried persimmons) in the weight range of 24.73~99.56 g were manufactured for use in experiments to evaluate the performance of the sorter. Results: The average error of the weight measurements from three experimental trials was 1.655%, with a bias of -0.492 g, a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of ${\pm}0.808g$, and a coefficient of determination ($R^2$ ) of 0.997. Conclusions: The load-cell-based electronic dried-persimmon weight sorter developed in this study facilitates effective, precise, and convenient sorting of dried persimmons.