Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-09-16 Origin: Site
Traditional tea‑garden pruning work relies heavily on manual labour. Workers repeatedly trim along the curved tea tree ridges, the work is highly repetitive, labour‑intensive, and it is hard to keep consistent trimming height for every tea bush.
Our customer needed a test rig to develop an automated pruning mechanism. They required a motion platform that reproduces the undulating, curved movement of travelling along tea plantation rows in the lab. Instead of doing all field trials outdoors, they can run simulation tests indoors first to optimise the cutter trajectory.
For this project, we delivered a custom‑built 3‑DOF motion platform powered by servo electric cylinders.
Platform core specifications
Stroke: 300 mm
Max linear speed: 500 mm/s
Rated payload: 50 kg
Actuator type: Servo linear actuators (FDR65‑S300)
Auxiliary manual hand‑wheel for coarse vertical height adjustment
Dynamic movement matching real‑world farm undulation The three servo electric cylinders work in coordinated motion. The platform reproduces tilt and heave displacement that simulates the terrain fluctuation when the pruning machine travels along uneven tea ridges. The 300 mm effective stroke covers the full range of ground elevation changes normally found on hilly tea plantations. Running speed up to 500 mm/s faithfully replicates the working travelling speed of field pruning equipment.
50 kg payload capacity for complete cutter assembly The platform carries the whole pruning cutting‑bar mechanism. With 50 kg rated payload, it supports the full weight of mechanical cutting arms, drive motors and mounting frames, so testing is performed with real‑size end‑effectors rather than simplified lightweight prototypes.
Manual hand‑wheel pre‑adjustment for flexible setup An integrated hand‑wheel lifting mechanism allows technicians to manually set the base working height before starting automated dynamic tests. Operators can quickly shift baseline height for different tea‑tree varieties with different bush heights without modifying software parameters.
Servo closed‑loop control for repeatable test data All movements are controlled by closed‑loop servo drives. Every tilt and vertical displacement can be precisely repeated. Test runs are reproducible, which is essential when collecting comparison data for cutter‑path optimisation. This eliminates inconsistent results you get from manual field testing.
On this test bench, the pruning cutter is mounted on the moving top frame. While the 3‑DOF platform simulates bumpy farm‑terrain movement, engineers record cutting performance:
Check if the cutter maintains even trimming height over undulating ground
Test cutter vibration under dynamic load
Optimise motion‑control algorithm before deploying prototype machines to real tea gardens
Indoor simulation testing greatly cuts down outdoor trial time, reduces travel to mountain tea farms and speeds up the whole R&D cycle for agricultural harvesting & pruning machinery.
This case proves servo‑electric multi‑DOF motion platforms are not limited to classic simulator use cases; they bring huge value for agricultural machinery R&D labs:
Orchard fruit‑picking robot test benches Simulate vehicle rolling & pitching when mobile picking robots drive over orchard ground, to test picking‑gripper stability.
Vegetable harvesting machine dynamic testing Reproduce farm‑ground bumps for leaf‑vegetable harvester prototypes to tune cutting‑knife control logic.
Agricultural spray equipment simulation test Simulate chassis tilt on sloped farmland, evaluate spray nozzle distribution and liquid sloshing inside pesticide tanks under dynamic tilt conditions.
Livestock‑handling equipment performance verification Dynamic load simulation for animal weighing & sorting machinery under field road vibration.
Agricultural drone ground‑simulation platform Test drone payload sensor performance under simulated chassis vibration of farm vehicles.
Hydraulic test benches used to dominate agricultural‑machinery development. Now servo‑electric multi‑DOF motion platforms become a cleaner, quieter alternative: no hydraulic‑fluid leakage, excellent motion repeatability, convenient digital integration with customer’s control software.
For agricultural‑machinery developers, these platforms provide a powerful indoor simulation method. You can validate your mechanical and control‑system design before field deployment, shortening product development cycles and lowering overall R&D expense.
If you are developing custom agricultural test‑rig solutions with servo linear actuators, contact our engineering team for your tailored 3‑DOF /6‑DOF motion‑platform quotation.
