China's annual apricot production is high, and it is highly seasonal. Therefore, during the apricot harvest season, it is easy to accumulate a large amount of fresh apricots. However, apricots have poor storability and are prone to rotting. As a result, many fruit growers engage in deep processing of apricots to make products such as dried apricots, apricot juice, apricot jam, and dehydrated apricot meat. Before deep processing, there is a crucial step—apricot pitting. Currently, the level of mechanization and automation for apricot cutting and pitting in China is low, with most pitting being done manually, leading to low efficiency and poor hygiene conditions. In response to this situation, this paper designs a highly automated apricot cutting and pitting device to improve the productivity of apricot cutting and pitting and to free up labor. The main components of this design include the lifting and transportation mechanism, apricot orientation mechanism, tray conveying mechanism, and cutting and pitting mechanism. During the design of each structure, considerations were made for the design of the conveyor belt, apricot spatial orientation, tool design, design of belt-driven gear transmission, and design of the offset crank-slider mechanism, among others. The advantages of this equipment include a high level of automation, high work efficiency, high pitting rate, simple and compact structure, low cost, strong applicability, and low damage rate. The high level of automation in this equipment greatly liberates productivity, not only improving apricot pitting efficiency but also reducing apricot waste. The cost of this equipment is low enough for farmers to afford, making it highly promotable.
----------Comments from the reviewer------------
A very detailed graduation project that includes 3D+CAD drawings and a design description, hence rated as diamond level!
