Abstract:
The ergonomical study of a folding type and non-folding type manually operated coconut
dehuskers was carried out at College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Dapoli for its
suitability to farmers on the basis of dehusking capacity, dehusking efficiency, damage
percentage and ergonomical considerations like heart rate, oxygen consumption rate, energy cost
of operation, acceptable work load, overall discomfort rating (ODR) and body part discomfort
score (BPDS) during operation. Dehusking of coconut is drudgerous operation. To reduce
drudgery in the dehusking operation, Dr. B. S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli developed two
types of coconut dehuskers, one is folding type and another is non-folding type manually
operated dehusker. The performance of folding and non-folding type manually operated coconut
dehusker was evaluated. The dehusking capacity and dehusking efficiency for folding and non
type coconut dehusker were observed as 58 nuts/h and 93.7 % and 52 nuts/h and 93 %
respectively. No damage to coconut shell dehusked were observed with both type. The average
energy cost of operation of subjects while coconut dehusking with folding and non-folding type
coconut dehuskers were 4.29 and 4.82 Kcal/min respectively. The average oxygen consumption
rate as per cent VO2 max while operating folding and non-folding type coconut dehusker were
9.255 and 10.322 l/min respectively. The coconut dehusking operation with folding and nonfolding
type coconut dehusker was within acceptable workload limit. The average ?HR value
for subjects while coconut dehusking with folding and non- folding type coconut dehuskers were
26.97 and 31.19 bpm respectively which was less than limit of continuous performance (LCP). The mean value of overall discomfort rating of subjects for coconut dehusking operation with
folding and non-folding type dehuskers was 3 (light discomfort) and 4 (more than light
discomfort) respectively. The average BPDS score while performing the coconut dehusking
operation using folding type and non-folding type manually operated coconut dehusker was 5.8
and 6.1 respectively.
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