The Solution

We began by researching existing practices across different industries and discovered the introduction of a wheeled branch rake, which originated from a wheel hay rake. This system offered a significant increase in efficiency by raking branches and leaves from under the trees. However, it had a few limitations. If there were contours under the trees, it wouldn’t effectively rake out the leaves, and it couldn’t reach directly between the trees, leaving a strip of debris. As a result, farmers use a small, tractor driven blower to clear these areas, followed by multiple passes with the rake to fully clean up the pruned material. While we appreciated the efficiency of the blowing system, it wasn’t powerful enough to handle larger branches and high pruning volumes, it was only effective for leaves. To solve this, we sought out a more robust solution and came across a centrifugal fan that seemed promising. We used this concept to build a branch blower, which significantly improved the process.