Abstract
Low operation efficiency and poor working performance are the main reasons that restrict the application of pneumatic date pickers. In this study, it is proposed to use positive pressure air flow blowing and negative pressure air flow suction to pick jujube fruit and to use inertia air flow to remove impurities and design a positive and negative collaborative air flow type date fruit harvester (P-N JH). The second-order regression model of test factors and response indexes was established by using the central composite design method, and the operating performance of P-N JH was evaluated and comprehensively optimized, and the optimal combination of operating parameters was obtained: positive pressure wind speed, negative pressure wind speed, and travel speed were 16.8 m·s−1, 34.0 m·s−1, and 1.5 m·s−1, respectively. In addition, the verification test results show that the pickup rate, impurity rate, damage rate, and operating efficiency are 97.21%, 2.15%, 1.08%, and 2170 kg/h, respectively. The operating performance of P-N JH not only meets the requirements of jujube picking but also significantly improves the operating efficiency compared with the traditional air-suction jujube harvester. This study can provide theoretical and technical reference for the harvesting of air-suctioned dates; it also provides a new way of thinking for jujube fruit picking.