A Novel mechanism or improving safety and productivity of coconut deshelling

Abstract

Coconut based products contributes 6.97% of total merchandise exports of Sri Lanka in 2024 [1]. Deshelling is as a key process step in the manufacturing of coconut-based food products. However, industrial deshelling methods poses serious safety risks, damages to the kernel, and high dependency on skilled labour. This paper presents a novel coconut deshelling approach to address the challenges identified in the current process. A review of literature was used to identify the state-ofthe-art of current deshelling methods and to establish the critical parameters involved in deshelling. Morphological analysis was conducted to develop conceptual designs. Industrial visits were conducted to get the real need of the industry to understand the current process. The design concepts were benchmarked against the parameters identified through the review and industrial visits. Finalised design concept is modelled using SolidWorks® and a prototype was fabricated. The prototype was improved with several iterations and experimented for intended performance. The prototype machine consists of two stations, cutting station and shell removing station. The proposed machine does not require skilled labour thus one operator can oversee several machines simultaneously. The safety threat to the operator is eliminated in the proposed machine and current productivity can be met with multiple machines until the machine gets adequate physical realisation of the design with sufficient use of resources.