Development and ergonomic evaluation of pedal operated cashew nut desheller

Abstract

India is the largest producer, processor, exporter, importer and second largest\rconsumer of the cashew in the world. The manual shelling process is done with pedal operated\rcashew nut sheller in standing posture. The objective of this study was to develop the pedal\roperated cashew nut desheller in such way that it could operated in sitting postures to reduced the\rdrudgery involved in the deshelling operation. The dimensions in the design of seat were used\rfrom available anthropometrics and strength data of women worker of Konkan region. The modified\rpedal operated cashew nut desheller was ergonomically evaluated on six women ranging from 20\rto 45 years. The mean values of working heart rate, corresponding oxygen consumption, energy\rexpenditure, per cent VO2, DHR were 93.56 bpm, 0.39 l/min, 8.31kJ/min, 29.33 per cent, 10.54 bpm\rwhich were less than limit of continuous performance (LCP). The operation categorized into\r‘moderately heavy’. With the help of developed pedal operated cashew nut desheller, kernel\rrecovery of cashew nut obtained 7.68 kg/day. The overall performance of the developed pedal\roperated cashew nut desheller was good.