Effect of Fruit Weight and Drop Height on Bruise Area and Contact Pressure Characteristics of Apple during Free Drop Test

Abstract

Drop bruising is among the most common forms of mechanical damage to fruit during postharvest procedures. To minimize the damage inflicted on apples by free falling during harvesting, transportation and preservation processes and to better understand the mechanism of this damage, this paper investigates the area and contact pressure distribution of a drop bruise when an apple of a certain weight is dropped from a specific height onto a steel substrate. The characteristics of the contact pressure were measured using Prescale® pressure-sensitive film and subsequently analyzed to determine the relationship between the bruise area and the pressure distribution upon impact. Our findings indicate that the peak range of contact pressure stood between 0.5 and 0.6 MPa for an apple dropped from a height of 20-80 cm onto a steel substrate. The pressures displayed a fairly regular distribution with a relatively small pressure area, closely matching the bruised area. Additionally, the area with a pressure range of 0.2-0.4 MPa was found to be the largest, with an average pressure of 0.25-0.28 MPa. The pressure area showed a linear increase in correspondence with the increase in fruit weight and drop height, maintaining a consistent peak. The linear regression model, formulated using the product of the pressure area and average pressure, accurately predicts and assesses the bruised area of a dropped apple. This research could inform the design of mechanized and automated equipment aiming to reduce the frequency of bruising in apples.