Arabica Coffee Cherry Harvester By: Joselyn Castillo, Kevin Ward, Brooke Willin Academic Advisor: Dr. Cesar Levy Senior Design 1: EML 4551 April 22, 2015

Agenda Problem Statement Motivation Global Issues Goals Engineering Standards/Application Design Alternatives Conclusion

Problem Statement Hand Picking -To Slow -Significant manual labor Economically Impractical Resolution: Machine to facilitate the picking without causing harm to the plant Strip Harvesting -Lowers quality -Harmful to plant

Motivation Man Portable Device Increase Quantity & Quality of Coffee Decrease Child Labor

Global Issues 1. Manual Labor 2. Economy 3. Environment Conditions

Global Issues Picking cherries is demanding → involves kids to help pick cherries all day too Example: In Nicaragua, farmers quota is 100 lb. of coffee beans per day to get paid minimum wage In South America, most coffee tree plants are grown in mountains, difficult to carry heavy equipment

Goals To improve the process of picking coffee beans and quality Gather 70% of cherries at prime maturity Portable Machine Decrease Labor Time Affordable to farmers

Arabica Coffee Cherry Characteristics Light Red Yellow Purple Immature Mature Difference for Strength in Sessile attachment Mature cherries require less strength to detach then immature berries Size range from immaturity to over maturity Immature Small- Mature Large- Pruney medium Color Range from Immaturity to Over-Maturity: Strength Range in Sessile Attachment from Immaturity to Maturity: Size Range from Immaturity to Maturity: Becomes Weaker Grows In Size

A gearing system will be implemented to rotate components at different RPM’s Engineering Applications Frequency of Vibration: Quantifying shearing force needed to detach mature and immature fruit Wireless Receiver: Testing and Modeling: Gearing System: Shearing Force: SolidWorks modeling will be used to model and test our proposed design The Vibrating mechanism may need to be switched on through wireless signal Quantification of frequency of vibrations for mature and immature cherries

Engineering Standards NSPE: National Society of Professional Engineers & ASME: American Society of Mechanical Engineers  Code of ethics & safety codes  To ensure proper design practices are followed ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials  Quality and effective materials chosen AGMA: American Gear Manufacturers Association  Gearing system needed to rotate our design at a specified RPM USDA: United States Department of Agriculture  Coffee plant characteristics

Design Idea I

Design Idea II

Design Components I 1) Material Choices: Carbon Fiber:  Lightweight  Durable  3D Printable  Costly Aluminum Alloy:  Lightweight  Durable  Inexpensive

Design Components II 2) Powering Options: Solar Panels:  Clean energy  Might not supply sufficient power in a practical manner Gas powered motor:  Not Clean energy  Will supply the necessary power needed  Readily available Hybrid:  A combination of gas and solar energy used to power harvester

Economics Aspect Current machinery cost $1000+ Besides labor costs, the machine costs outweighs cost of coffee income Less material and equipment cost low

Arabica Coffee Cherry Harvester Timeline 2015

Conclusion Goal: Gather 70% of Cherries picked as ripened Design: Improve upon design and begin building throughout the next couple of months  Make it light enough to be man portable Global: Decrease work intensity and increase quantity without affecting quality