Kinematic characteristics of cam-elliptical gear combined packaged vegetable labeling mechanism

To address the challenges in labeling long labels on curved surface vegetables, such as wrinkles and label detachment, a cam-elliptical gear (C&E) labeling mechanism that realizes an improved hypocycloid trajectory is proposed. Firstly, the influence of different parameters on the hypocycloid trajectory is studied, and the tricuspid hypocycloid is selected as the labeling trajectory. Secondly, the trajectory and kinematic equations of the C&E labeling mechanism with a tricuspid hypocycloid trajectory are established. Next, the influence of various parameters on the trajectory and kinematics of the C&E labeling mechanism is examined. A set of optimal parameters is obtained through a comparative study, and a 3D model of the C&E labeling mechanism is established and simulated. Finally, a prototype of the C&E labeling mechanism was built and experimented with. The experiment showed that the normal labeling completion rate is 94%, and the prototype’s efficiency is 56.3 pcs/min. The research in this paper provides a theoretical basis for the design and optimization of a vegetable long-label curved-surface labeling mechanism.