IMPROVE PHASE
Phase four of five progressive phases
PHASE SUMMARY
In the Improve Phase, the team utilized the root causes identified in the Analyze Phase to determine what might fix the root causes of various problems. This entailed comparing possible solutions, selecting the best one, describing the criteria for the best one, and creating a detailed implementation plant. The implementation plan included what needs to happen, how it will happen, who will perform certain tasks, what resources are needed and currently available, what and who will be affected by the improvements, how the proposed solution addresses the problem, and if the implementation of a single solution is sufficient or if multiple solutions must be considered. The team also fully detailed the design including manufacturing techniques, and mechanical and electronic reliability. The prototype was completely built by the end of this phase.
FIXING THE ROOT CAUSES OF PROBLEMS
The root causes of the problems with the Oil Palm Harvester should be mitigated by the introduction of the improved Oil Palm Harvester mechanism. The biggest problems with the current harvesting process is that the process is dangerous and has too much variation. The improved Oil Palm Harvester will offset those problems because it will significantly reduce the risk involved when harvesting. The device will use an automatic cutting mechanism rather than strenuous manual labor to cut down the fruit, which will reduce the worker’s risks of developing musculoskeletal disorders. Also, since the device will be able to reach a height of 40 feet with a detection camera at the top, workers will not need to climb up the trees to harvest the fruit or determine if the fruit is ripe. Consequently, workers would no longer need to risk serious injury or death from falling while climbing the tree.
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The device will also offsets the root problems with the previous year’s prototype because the increased height capabilities allow the device to be more functional in actual application. The previous year’s device was not able to go high enough to reach the fruit, but this year’s improved device is able to. The device will also be easier to transport than the previous year’s device because it is able to compress to a smaller size and has more wheels. Additionally, the improved device is able to fit in the bed of a pickup truck, which the previous year’s mechanism was too large to do. These two improvements are vital to the improved device’s overall functionality and ease of use.
SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS
Safety features were added improve the device in terms of safety and included safety brackets, safety stoppers, additional legs, and leveling knobs. The safety brackets keep the poles from sliding when the device is extended and act as a lock-in feature to ensure that the device does not fail when it is extended in the air. The safety stoppers do not allow the poles to be overextended when the beams are elevating and ensure that the poles are not extended too far, which would cause added deflection and could potentially lead to failure of the elevation mechanism. The legs that were added to the transportation cart provide additional stability for the base of the device and they offset the change in center of gravity that occurs in the device as the beams elevate and ascend. The leveling knobs ensure that the device is level even if the ground is uneven, and that the device’s weight is evenly distributed along the base. In testing, the team found that the device deflected when these knobs were not used, and no longer deflected significantly when these knobs were used.
ERGONOMIC IMPROVEMENTS
The team also made ergonomic improvements to the design to reduce the stress on the worker and improve the mechanism’s overall ease of use. The changes included adding an additional handle and more wheels to the transportation cart. By having two handles at different heights, the worker would be able to utilize the handle that is most comfortable for them. This is especially useful to make the design comfortable for workers with various heights.  The team utilized nine wheels on the device that were on the bottom and side of the transport cart to make the device more ergonomic to load and unload from a pickup truck. The additional wheels mean that the device never has to be fully lifted off the ground, some wheel is always in contact with a surface to help distribute the weight of the device and lower the stresses on the worker.
TESTING INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS
In addition to using the Finite Element Analysis to ensure the stability of the device, the team also tested individual components for the device before attaching them to the prototype. For example, each of the individual beams for the elevation mechanism was tested prior to adding them to the device. The team ensured that each piece slid within one another without any issue before adding it on to the elevation mechanism. The team also ensured that the device was not deflecting more than deflection analysis said the device should while the device was being built. If the device were found to be excessively bending, the team would have stopped building, identified the issue, and addressed it accordingly.
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The chosen design proved to be both mechanically and electronically reliable. Each of the individual components worked as expected in testing. The poles of the elevation mechanism were able to consistently ascend and descend with the help of the pulley system to the necessary heights without issues. The transportation mechanism worked even better than originally intended due to the team tweaking the design to include additional wheels and more comfortably located handles for easy transport. The detection mechanism works to the standards that the team had expected, it is able to view the fruit and display the image on the screen on the worker’s controller. The cutting mechanism also functions as intended. Its functional operation was verified in testing in which the trolley used to support the saw was successfully able to move the saw left and right, and the saw was able to move in and out as well as turn to cut according to the command’s inputted into the controller. The testing of the prototype has allowed to the team to verify that the prototype works as expected.
ENSURING IMPROVEMENTS WERE MADE
One of the most significant improvements made with the Oil Palm Harvester’s design is from its ability to reach the 40 feet height requirement while maintaining stability. The Oil Palm Harvester also has safety features added that reduce the risk involved when using the device. Additionally, it has a functioning cutting mechanism that may be attached to the top of the elevation mechanism and travel up with the device.
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It was verified that these improvements had been achieved through a series of testing. In the testing, the team was able to extend the device up to a height of 42 feet without the cutting mechanism attached, and 25 feet with the 180-degrees half of the cutting mechanism attached. The team was not permitted to test the saw and cutting device while the device was extended in the air, and the team was also not permitted to extend the cutting device higher than 25 feet in the air due to safety concerns from the university. As a result, the team was limited in testing the full capabilities of the device. In the testing that was completed, though, the device succeeded in all its intended functions and was able to achieve the desired tasks.
