Journal d'ergonomie
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ERGONOMICAL EVALUATION OF MANUALLY OPERATED COCONUT DEHUSKER

Prajwal R, Pradhan PL, Mohanty SK, Mishra J, Behera D

Ergonomical evaluation of a manual operated coconut de-husker was carried out at College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, OUAT, Bhubaneswar. Twelve anthropometric parameters like stature (cm), weight (kg), acromion height (cm), grip diameter (cm), hand length (cm), palm length (cm), palm width (cm), fore arm hand length (cm), grip strength (kgf), hand pull (kgf), leg push (kgf), muscle strength (kgf) was measured for both male and female subjects under different age, weight and height. Physiological parameters like body surface area (BSA), body mass index (BMI), HR rest, VO2 rest, HR max, VO2 max and energy expenditure rate (EER) were also studied. It was observed that the mean and standard deviation value of HR max (beats/min) is 184.33 and 3.13, VO2 max (litre/min) is 2.88 and 0.46 and energy expenditure rate (EER) (kJ/l) is 15.20 and 0.77 respectively for male subjects. Similarly, for female subjects, the mean and standard deviation value of HR max (beats/min) is 186 and 2.82, VO2 max (litre/min) is 2.95 and 0.39 and energy expenditure rate (EER) (kJ/l) is 19.68 and 1.54 respectively. The maximum de-husking force was observed to be 5.38 kg (52.77N) at the moisture content of 15-20% (wb) of the coconut shells.