Design and Development of High Efficiency Power‐Operated Grader for Cherries ( Prunus avium L.)

ABSTRACT Sweet cherry ( Prunus avium L.) is a highly perishable temperate fruit of significant commercial importance, particularly in the Himalayan belt of India, with Jammu and Kashmir contributing over 94% of national production. For canning and processing, grading is essential for uniform quality, consumer acceptance and market competitiveness. At present, cherry grading in India is being performed manually, which is labor intensive, inconsistent and inefficient. To address this limitation, a power‐operated cherry grader was designed and developed to evaluate its technical performance and economic feasibility. The grader was tested at nine combinations of feed rates (400–800 kg/h) and drum speeds (8–12 rpm), using “Double” cherry variety and the results were compared with the traditional manual method. The developed machine achieved the highest throughput capacity (660.22 kg/h), effective throughput capacity (651.31 kg/h) and grading efficiency (98.58%) at the operating combination of 800 kg/h feed rate and 12 rpm drum speed (F3R3). The grading error (1.42%), ungraded fruit percentage (0.82%) and fruit damage (0.31%) remained minimal, demonstrating high precision with negligible quality loss. In contrast, manual grading showed much lower efficiency (66.55%), higher grading error (33.45%) and excessive labor requirements (93.89 man‐hours/tonne). Economic evaluation revealed a benefit–cost ratio of 2.3, a break‐even point of 6897.7 kg and a payback period of 1165 operational hours, confirming its commercial viability. Overall, the developed cherry grader significantly reduced drudgery, improved grading uniformity and ensured economic profitability, making it a promising technology for large scale adoption in the cherry canning industry.