Design, constructing and evaluating a tractor mounted garlic harvester machine

Harvesting is one of the most difficult and labor-intensive stages of garlic production and needs a lot of money and effort. In this study, to fix this problem mechanized harvesting machine designed, constructed and evaluated. This machine pulls the garlics out of the ground by two V-shaped belts and a blade that carries them to the topping unit and cuts their heads. The power requiring to move the belts and topping unit is acquiring from the carrier wheels. To evaluate this harvesting machine some tests were carried out with considering two parameters: advancement moving speed in three levels (3, 4 and 5 Kmph) and three linear speeds of belts (1.2, 1.4 and 1.6 times of advancement speed) using factorials in a completely random form with different blade angels. The results show that the best performance of the machine happens at a speed of 3 Kmph. Also, the best forward speed of the highest quality heading, speed of 3 Kmph and the belts linear speed of 1.2 times of the speed of advancement.