Design And Fabrication Of A Coconut Dehusking Machine

Electrical Electronics Engineering | Engineering

The design and fabrication of a coconut dehusking machine involves a comprehensive process integrating engineering principles and innovative techniques to develop an efficient and reliable device. Initially, thorough research is conducted to understand the specific requirements and challenges associated with coconut dehusking, encompassing aspects such as coconut size variability, shell hardness, and operational safety. Utilizing this knowledge, engineers devise a robust design encompassing components such as a motorized mechanism for rotating the coconut, sharp blades or abrasive surfaces for efficient husk removal, and safety features to prevent user injury. The fabrication phase involves selecting durable materials such as stainless steel or reinforced plastics, precision machining of components, and assembly of the machine with meticulous attention to detail. Rigorous testing procedures are employed to evaluate performance metrics including dehusking speed, efficiency, and reliability under varying operating conditions. Through iterative refinement and optimization, the resulting coconut dehusking machine embodies a blend of ingenuity, functionality, and durability, poised to streamline coconut processing operations and enhance productivity in agricultural settings.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the design and fabrication activities involved in developing an automated coconut de-husking machine. The main purpose of this machine is to eliminate the skilled operator involved in de-husking the coconut and to completely automate the dehusking and crown removing process. Although coconut dehusking machines have already been demonstrated in the work and also in some small-scale industries, the process is either manual or semi-automatic. A completely automated machine with manual loading and unloading of coconuts will yield productivity higher than the existing process. Because of that, the current work is mainly focused on an automated machine for dehusking and crown removing. Also, we can yield lot of useful and commercial products from coconut at various stages of its lifecycle. The machine aims at de-husking and removing the crown of the de-husked coconut of various sizes. In order to get to know about the different sizes of the coconut, various places are visited where exuberant yielding of coconuts are made. Also, dimensional data of coconuts have been collected. Based on the survey the maximum and minimum sizes of the coconut are determined. The machine is designed to accommodate different sizes of the coconut that are cultivated anywhere in the world. Also, various experiments have been conducted on both dry and mature coconuts in order to determine the force required to de-husk the coconut.

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
SCOPE/ LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE PROJECT
CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 THE INVENTOR COCONUT DEHUSKING MACHINE

2.2 WHY, WHERE AND WHEN

2.3 WHAT OTHER ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES APPLIED

2.4 WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS OF THE ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY?

2.5 WHY YOUR INTENDED CONCEPT

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHOD

3.1 DESIGN SPECIFICATION

3.2 ENGINEERING RELATION
3.3 DESIGN ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULT ANALYSIS

4.1 FINDINGS/OBSERVATION

4.2 MAINTENANCE

4.3 COST ANALYSIS

4.4 PERFORMANCE EVELUATION

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND REFERENCES

CONCLUSIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS/FUTURE SCOPE
REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

A coconut is the fruit of a coconut palm belonging to arecaceae family. It consists of a hard shell covering the edible portion. A fibrous outer layer known as the husk, covers the shell. Hence the coconut has to be dehusked before it can be used for any purpose. The size of a coconut with husk varies from 145 to 200 mm in diameter and it can be 200 to 300 mm long (Sujaykumar et al., 2017). The manual dehusking process is time consuming and it also involves the risk of the labourer getting injury. Labour fatigue also contributes to the low productivity. The labour cost for dehusking a coconut is 50 paise/coconut. At the end of the day the cost for dehusking one load coconut (1000 nuts) is too expensive. Expensive hydraulic dehusking machines are capable of dehusking 300 nuts / hour and requires skilled labours. The Dehusking machines available in the market are costly. And that restricts the adoption of this technique among small scale farmers. Hence the machines should be made available at an affordable price to increase their usage (Roopashree et al., 2017). The present work aimed at designing and fabricating a coconut dehusking machine which overcomes the cost barrier and makes the machine available at low cost.

1.1 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

The main aim of this project is to design and fabricate a machine that will eliminate the skilled operator involved in de-husking the coconut and to completely automate the dehusking and crown removing process. The objectives are:

To design a coconut dehusking machine
To fabricate the coconut dehusking machine

To improve number of nuts produced per hour

Reduction of human
Low cost coconut
Reduction of manpower

Improvement on number of nuts processed per

1.2 SCOPE/LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

The scope of this work covers fabricating a coconut dehusking machine which peels off the coconut husk from coconut fruit to obtain dehusked coconut fruit with the help of two rotating rollers having spikes on their periphery. The coconut is placed in between the rollers lengthwise. The rollers are driven at two different speeds with help of gears and powered by electric motor. The rotational speed of two rollers should be different so that the coconut can be turned by means of this differential speed. The spikes penetrate into the coconut husk and further rotation of rollers result in peeling of the husk. The husk which is peeled off are pulled downwards by the rollers. After a 360o rotation of the coconut, the husk will be removed completely and the fruit can be taken out.

1.3 ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE PROJECT

i) The major beneficiaries of this project are rural dweller who might engage themselves in coconut processing.
ii) Small, and medium scale agro-industrial set up who produce products like coconut oil.

iii) Chemical and pharmaceutical industries who might be using extracts from for drugs etc.

iv) Agro – feed industries who might be using coconut as additive in feed production.

1.5 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE

There are many existing ways of dehusking coconuts starting from traditional way to mechanical means. Some of these methods are time consuming, tiring, and difficult operation to perform and involves much human drudgery. Dehusking with traditional hand tools like machete or a spike depends on the skill of worker and involves training. Nowadays there is shortage of such skilled workers. The mechanized or the power operated machines are developed to eliminate the drawbacks of manual tools. Using this method serves as a means of eliminating the above mentioned drawbacks of the existing tools and machines.