Colhedora beneficiadora de cebolas para a agricultura familiar: Projeto informacional e conceitual

Abstract

The onion (Allium cepa L.) is considered of great social and economic importance in Brazil, and 70% of its production comes from family farmers. The production of onions is a tradition passed from generation to generation among the farmers, using simple tools and machines for the implementation of the crop. The physical exertion demanded, especially in transplant and harvest stages, which are carried out entirely by hand, is quite large. Usually the manufacturers of agricultural machinery have no interest in this sector. The aim of this study was to develop a mechanized system for the purpose of harvesting and benefit onions adapted to needs of family farmers. The methodology used is based on a phase model which is divided into: informational design, conceptual design, preliminary design and detailed design, and performed this work is the first two. In the first phase, informational design, we identified the needs of clients according to the functions that develop within each phase of the life cycle of the product to establish the design specifications. In the conceptual design phase there was the scope of the problem, establishing the functional structures feasible to meet the design specifications. There were searches for solution principles, selecting the most promising combinations of these principles with aim to choose the most appropriate to satisfy the needs met. The scope of the problem was found, remove and bag clean and undamaged bulbs with precision suitable for different depths and widths. Thus met the functional structure that best suits complying with the requirements of the project. We obtained four conceptions of machines one of than was selected and optimized, evolving it to the final design. This was the one that was more appropriate and feasible to build a prototype to carry out the harvesting and processing of onions.