To meet the needs of Iranian farmers who grow rainfed chickpeas, a new harvester was developed and tested. The project began with a modified stripper harvester and continued with a new design. The main components of the machine, such as the platform, reel, chassis and power transmission system, were improved to enhance its work quality. The harvester, which is pulled by a tractor, uses a power take-off-powered reel with 6 bats and a diameter of 700 mm to hit the pods and detach them from the plants. The best results were achieved when the reel speed was 2.4 times the forward speed of 3 km/h. The harvester could cover 0.42 ha/h and collect 120 kg/h of pods with a working width of 1.4 m. The machine performed well in field trials, with low purchase and operation costs, acceptable efficiency and losses, and better outcomes than existing methods and machines for chickpea harvesting.
