Development and testing of motor-drive vibration picking device for Camellia fruit

<bold>Objective</bold> At present，the planting of <italic>Camellia</italic> forests is not standardized，and the space of <italic>Camellia</italic> forest is narrow for harvesting machine.Therefore，a motor-drive <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit vibration harvesting device is designed. <bold>Method</bold> The biomechanics of the fruit and flower buds of the main variety of <italic>Camellia</italic> in Jiangxi Province，Changlin 40，were measured by means of ZDF-50 digital tension meter，and the mass of <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit and <italic>Camellia</italic> flower buds was measured using the LW300X electronic scale.Based on the difference in mass between the <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit and flower buds，which resulted in different forced vibration inertial forces，the harvesting principle of <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit was determined The key components of the picking device，such as the vibration motor，vibration mechanism，lateral branch clamping mechanism，and lifting mechanism，were selected and designed.Based on the mechanical characteristics of <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit vibration harvesting，the critical acceleration conditions for <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit vibration shedding was obtained.Using the results of <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit picking rate and flower bud damage rate as experimental indicators，and vibration frequency，vibration time，and clamping distance as factors，orthogonal experiments were conducted in the oil tea forest of Deyiyuan ecological agriculture development company in Jiangxi Province，The optimal parameter combination was obtained using a weighted method. <bold>Result</bold> The factors that affect the net harvesting rate of <italic>Camellia</italic> fruits are vibration time，clamping distance，and vibration frequency； The impact on the damage rate of flower buds，in descending order，is vibration frequency，vibration time，and clamping distance.When the vibration time is 5 s，the vibration frequency is 12 Hz，and the clamping distance is 8 mm，the net harvesting rate of <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit is 93.93%，and the bud damage rate is 4.34%. <bold>Conclusion</bold> The motor-drive harvesting device for <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit designed in this study can adapt to narrow oil tea forest operations，meet the technical requirements for <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit harvesting，which provide reference for the development of <italic>Camellia</italic> fruit harvesting machines.