2016 Volume 78 Issue 1 Pages 64-72
To reduce labor costs involved in the transportation of a harvesting containers in a large-scale greenhouse for tomato cultivation, we developed an unmanned harvesting container transport system consisting of a collecting device, transport vehicle, and storage device. The vehicle can travel along a magnetic tape on the floor, and each device has a plastic conveyor. Containers are delivered by inclining the conveyors in the collecting device and in the vehicle. In a cultivation area of 1 ha, the process time for transporting 5 t of tomatoes was estimated to be 4.4-7.5h. Although the acceleration of the container transportation reached a maximum of 6.9m/s2, the cushioning material at the bottom of the containers prevented damage to the tomatoes.
