Experimental evaluation demonstrates enhanced throughput and reduced damage during automated elderberry sorting, suggesting viable postharvest labor reduction.
Key Points
To develop and preliminarily evaluate an automated, water-assisted prototype system for cleaning, conveying, and weighing destemmed American elderberries to minimize postharvest labor.
Engineered a prototype containing a water-based density separation tank, sieve funnel, screw conveyor, electronic control unit, touchscreen interface, and digital weighing scale.
Tested elderberry transport at conveyor rotational speeds ranging from 300 to 650 rpm, utilizing three replications per treatment level.
Machine processing throughput increased from 40.50 ± 27.09 kg h−1 at 300 rpm to 368.18 ± 19.44 kg h−1 at 650 rpm.
Visible post-processing external berry damage dropped significantly from 50.00 ± 2.50% at 300 rpm to 18.50 ± 2.20% at 650 rpm.
Operating at 650 rpm was identified as the optimal tested endpoint, achieving peak throughput alongside the lowest observable berry damage.