Design of lavender harvesting machine and development of prototype

The importance of lavender plants in the agricultural sector is increasing every day as demand for medical and aromatic plants in our country and the world market increases. This increase enforces the development of various technology and agricultural applications. The harvesting of lavender plants in Turkey is mostly based on manpower and mechanical harvesting is required in order to increase the commercial yield of the product. The objective of this dissertation is to design and develop a prototype of a harvesting machine suitable for the lavender and land structure of our country in order to create a solution to the harvest mechanization problem encountered in lavender cultivation. In line with this objective, the functional units of the machine were determined and design drawings and prorotype of the machine were carried out. Performance tests of the lavender harvesting machine were carried out under laboratory and field conditions. The cutting and bundle tying efficiency were taken into consideration in the evaluation of the working performance of the prototype. The average cutting efficiency was determined as 95.2% and the average tying efficiency was determined as 68.0%. In the experiments carried out, after the cutting process, the products have been transferred successfully to a trailer or field surface with the help of a belt conveyor. It has been determined that alternative tying systems should be tried and the machine performance should be increased in order for the prototype of the lavender harvesting machine to work more effectively with the tying process.