Summary: The over all objective of this design project is to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of utilizing wave belts to fill a storage bin with apples. This project is supported by grants from the United States Department of Agriculture Small Business Innovative Research (USDA-SBIR) and the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. The goal is to develop a prototype of the bin filler that can: ???? Fill a storage bin 90% full of fruit. ???? Operate at a minimum speed of 8 bins per hour. ???? Inflict minimal to no damage to the fruit. The goal for this work is to design, build and test the prototypes. The testing will prove the mechanical function and fruit handling characteristics of the prototypes. Three prototypes are needed: one- the elevator / delivery head system, two- the fruit accumulator/organizer method and three- the full working prototype bin filler.
