Design of Mechanical Device for Water Chestnut Harvesting

Water chestnut is still harvested by traditional methods because of growth environment, its disadvantages are high labor intensity and low efficiency．An integrated device was designed, which could excavate water chestnuts, separate fruit from soil and collect fruit．Key components were introduced such as excavating device, separating device, conveying device and power system．Based on water chestnut harvesting device, test prototype was made and experiments were carried out．Experimental results showed that this device could complete water chestnut harvest, and it has advantages of high recovery rate, low crushing rate and easy operation．It could provide a technical reference for large-scale planting and mechanized harvesting of water chestnut．