Mr. Ketan K.Tonpe Int.

Journal of Engineering Research and Applications

ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 3), July 2014, pp.39-44

RESEARCH ARTICLE

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OPEN ACCESS

Design & Performances of Coconut De-Shelling Machine

Mr. Ketan K.Tonpe 1, Mr. Vinod P. Sakhare 2, Dr. C. N. Sakhale3
1

Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engg., Priyadarshini College of Engineering, Nagpur:19

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engg. Datta Meghe Institute of Engineering, Technology &
Research ,Wardha
3
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engg. Priyadarshini College of Engineering, Nagpur:19
2

ABSTRACT
The traditional method used in India, for the separation of copra and shell from partially-dried split coconuts, is
labour intensive. To overcome this problem, a power operated coconut de-shelling machine was designed and
developed. A coconut de-shelling machine comprising of cutter with belt drive. Performances test analysis
conducted show that the machine de-shelled the fruits without nut breakage and also that its average de-shelling
efficiency and capacity are 90% and 195 coconut per hour. All materials used in the fabrication of this machine
are of standard specification and locally sourced. The estimated cost of producing one unit of the machine is
twenty five thousand six hundred (Rs.25, 600). The machine also eliminated dependency on the epileptic public
electric power supply in our rural areas which constitutes the major obstacle in the use of other mechanized
coconut de-shelling equipment in the rural area.
Keywords - Coconut De-shelling machine, de-shelling efficiency, capacity, small scale farmers

I. INTRODUCTION
Coconut (cocos nucifera) is one of the world
most useful and important perennial plants
[1].Coconut plays an important role in the economic,
social and cultural activities of millions of people in
our country. India is a major producer of coconut in
the world. Coconut provides food, edible oil,
industrial oil and health drink to humanity. All parts
of coconut tree is useful in one way or other and the
crop profoundly influences the socio-economic
security of millions of farm families. Coconut oil,
which comes under edible-industrial group, is used as
a cooking oil, hair oil, massage oil and industrial oil.
Coconut oil can be blended with diesel, straight in an
adapted engine or turned into biodiesel

called a mesocarp (F), and a hard inner layer called

an endocarp (E) that surrounds a large seed. The
endocarp (A) contains three germination pores at one
end, one of which the sprouting coconut palm grows
through. The "meat" of the seed is endosperm tissue
(B) and a small, cylindrical embryo is embedded in
this nutritive tissue just opposite the functional
germination pore. The seed is surrounded by an outer
brown layer called the seed coat or testa. This is the
brown material that adheres to the white "meat" or
endosperm when it is removed from the endocarp
shell. "Coconut water" (C) is multinucleate liquid
endosperm that has not developed into solid tissue
composed of cells. Copra comes from the meat of
dried coconuts, while coir fibers are derived from the
fibrousmesocarp.

Fig. 2. Structure of a coconut fruit

Fig. 1. Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera)

The fruit of the coconut (Cocos nucifera) is

technically a large, dry drupe (D) composed of a thin
outer layer (exocarp), a thick, fibrous middle layer
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Sprouting fruit of a coconut Cocos nucifera. The

hard inner layer (endocarp) contains the actual seed
composed of a minute embryo and food storage
tissue (endosperm). The base of the embryo
(cotyledon) swells into an absorbing organ that fills
the entire cavity of the seed as it digests the
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Mr. Ketan K.Tonpe Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications

ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 3), July 2014, pp.39-44
endosperm. The endocarp has three germination
pores, one functional pore and two plugged pores. [In
"blind coconuts" all three pores are plugged.] The
three pores represent three carpels, typical of the
palm family (Arecaceae). Just inside the functional
germination pore is a minute embryo embedded in
the endosperm tissue. During germination, a spongy
mass develops from the base of the embryo and fills
the seed cavity. This mass of tissue is called the
"coconut apple" and is essentially the functional
cotyledon of the seed.
The nut varies from 147 to196mm in diameter
and 245to 294mm long. Three sunken holes of softer
tissue called eyes are at one end of the nut. Inside
the shell is a thin, white, fleshy layer, about 12.25mm
thick at maturity, known as the coconut meat. The
interior of the nut is hollow and partially filled with a
watery liquid called coconut milk. The meat is soft
and jelly-like when immature and becomes firm at
maturity. The coconut milk is abundant in unripe
fruits but it is gradually absorbed as ripening
proceeds [3]. According to [4], the meat of immature
coconut fruit can be made in to ice cream while that
of a mature coconut fruit can be eaten fresh or used
for making shredded coconut and livestock feed.
Coconut milk is a refreshing and nutritious drink
while its oil is use for cooking and making
margarine.
Coconut is commercially cultivated in 93
countries especially on the small and marginal
holdings over an area of 11.8 million hectares and
about 10.26 million tons of copra equivalent were
produced in the year, India contributes to 15.28% of
the global area and 19.44% of global production, and
is the largest single market for coconut, consuming
almost its entire production of 12.6 billon nuts.
Indonesia is the next largest market for coconut,
consuming nearly 11.2 billion nuts accounting for
about 74% of its production. As much as 50.8% of
the total coconut area in India is concentrated in
Kerala and the state account for 43.6% of the total
production of the country. Kerala is a small state
along the west coast of India, which accounts for
only 1.18% of the total land area of the country.
Rey (1955) reported a knife-shaped shallow
spoon, which moved back and forth upon the rotation
of a cam, and in the process, the coconut meat was
scooped in fragments. Mix (1957) designed a shelling
machine for removing the shell from the fresh
coconut meat, while Blandis and Glaser (1973) used
water under pressure to separate the coconut meat
from the shell. Even in large processing units, about
15-20 labours are used for de-shelling 20,000 to
30,000 nuts (Singh,2004). This is a labour-intensive
operation and takes several hours to separate shell
and copra. However, no attempt has been made so far
to develop a mechanical de-shelling machine, With

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this objective, an attempt has been made in the

present study to develop a de-shelling machine.

II. MATERIAL AND METHOD

A. Machine Description:
The major components of the developed coconut
de-shelling machine shown in Figure 3 are frame,
Cross cutter, conveying unit, driven and driver
pulleys, rubber belt and motor and bearing housing.

Fig.3. Diagram of the developed coconut de-shelling machine

The frame is the main supporting structure upon
which other components of this machine were
mounted. The frame is a welded structure
construction from 50x50x5 mm angle iron with
dimensions of 650 mm length, 740 mm width and
1000 mm height. The de-shelling unit comprises of
two shaft one is intermediate shaft and other is cutter
shaft. Intermediate shaft is a mild steel rod of 25mm
diameter and 610 mm long and also mounted cutter
shaft 25 mm diameter and 250 mm long supported at
both ends by ball bearing. A 1 H.P (0.745 KW)
induction motor, which is attached to the base of
stand transmits power from motor shaft to
intermediate shaft No. 1 through single groove
pulley P1 (2.5) and pulley P2 (11) which are
attached to motor shaft, intermediate shaft
respectively and is connected by V-belt drive 680
mm. Motor shaft is rotated at 1440 RPM and
intermediate shaft is rotated at 388 RPM. In
intermediate shaft located the pulley P3 (2.5) which
transmitted the power to cutter shaft at which rotate
speed 388 RPM, Since coconut shell contain low
strength, hence it requires low speed for cutting, The
de-shelling rod attached to frame structure which is
near to disc cutter. The coconut eye of the coconut
fruit and locate it to the de-shelling rod, without
touching the disc cutter and rotate smoothly to deshelled the coconut.
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Mr. Ketan K.Tonpe Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications

ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 3), July 2014, pp.39-44

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III. DESIGN ANALYSIS OF THE

MACHINE
A. Design consideration:
The coconut de-shelling machine was developed
based on the following consideration:
1. The availability of materials locally to reduce
cost of production and maintenance of the
machine.
2. The de-shelling rod was introduced in between
and near to disc cutter without touching the disc
cutter and smoothly conducts the operation.
3. It is desired that the coconut fruits should be
well de-shelled without nut breakage and also
that cobra extracted should not be distorted, thus
pulleys were carefully designed/selected to meet
the required synchronized speeds of the deshelling units.

(3)
(4)
Where: = Angle of lap of the drive, rad.
Vp= Perperial velocity (Belt speed),m/s
N1 = Speed of the driven pulley, rpm
In addition, Maximum, centrifugal tension, working
load and life of belt were sequentially computed as
4.52 N, 169 N, 34.10 N respectively from the
following relation by [11];
(5)
(6)
(7)

B. Selection of pulley and determination of their

speeds and belt tensions:
The machine requires four pulleys and a belt for
its drives. Standard pulley were selected due to
simplicity in design, availability/economy of
maintenance, absence of end thrust on bearing and
suitability for heavy loads. Due to its availability,
durability, cost and performance, mild steel pulleys
with grooves angle of 380 each were selected. The
driving pulley was mounted on the motor shaft and
the driven on the intermediate shaft. In motor shaft
the pulley diameter 88.9 mm and intermediate shaft
279 mm diameter, thus the of motor shaft has
transmitted power to intermediate shaft with belt
drive run at the less speed and this speed was
determined as 458 rpm using the relation;
N1D1 = N2D2
(1)
Where:
N1 is the speed of the driving pulley = 1440
N2 is the speed of the driven pulley = 45
D1 is diameter of smaller pulley (P1)
D2 is diameter of lager pulley (P2)
The centre distance, C between the adjacent pulleys
was computed as 680mm.
Thus, length of the belt, l was computed as 1501.62
mm from expression given by ;

Where: Fc = Centrifugal tension of the belt, N

Fw= working load of the belt,N
F= Fatigue of the belt,N
Fb= Bending load of the belt, N

(2)
Where, D1 is the diameter of the pulley on the driven
motor shaft. Type A V-belt is suitable for this drive
since the drive transmitted less than 0.81 kW. Based
on a v-belt with standard nominal width, nominal
thickness, minimum diameter, no. of strands and
bending stress factor, centrifugal tension factor of 13
mm, 8 mm, 75 mm, 6, 17.6 x 10 3, 2.52 was selected
for drive. Consequently, determine as , 2.74 rad and
6.70 m/s using Equation (2), (3) and (4) respectively
in accordance [11].

= Allowable shear stress for steel shaft with

provision for
key ways = 88.8 N/mm2
T = Torque transmitted by the shaft , N-mm
M = Maximum bending moment on the shaft, N-mm
Kt = Combined shock and fatigue factor for twisting.
Kb = Combined shock and fatigue for bending.

= Cone angle
= Coefficient of friction between pulley and
belt Now, design of pulley for cutter shaft .The
driving pulley was mounted on the intermediate shaft
and the driven on the cutter shaft. In motor shaft the
pulley diameter 63.5 mm and cutter shaft 152 mm
diameter, thus the of intermediate shaft has
transmitted power to cutter shaft with belt drive run
at the less speed and this speed was determined as
190 rpm . In addition, Maximum, centrifugal tension,
working load and life of belt were sequentially
computed as 8.41 N, 169 N, 127 N respectively from
the following relation by [11];
C. Determination shaft diameter:
The diameter, d for each of the two shaft of this
machine was determine using maximum stress
relation given by [11] as;
(8)
Where :

Shaft material consider as SAE 1030 steel Sut =

Ultimate tensile strength=527 MPa and Syt = Yield
strength in compression =296 MPa Therefore ,
design shear stress (

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) should be

< 0.30

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Mr. Ketan K.Tonpe Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications

ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 3), July 2014, pp.39-44
Syt or

< 0.18 Sut.

MPa or

< 0.30 x 296 = 88.8

<0.18 x 527 =94.86 MPa. Selecting

minimum value i.e.

= 88.8 MPa.
Now, because there is a keyway at critical section
should be reduced by 25 precent. Therefore
=0.75 x 88.8 = 66.6 MPa.
D. Electric motor Specifications:
A three phase 1hp electric motor with a rated
speed of 1440 rpm was chosen for the de-shelling
machine. It is because it is the range of electric motor
available in the market with a specification close to
the estimated minimum power requirement of 0.745
kW and by virtue of the coconut mass and density the
high shelling speed like 190 rpm is needed to give the
coconut adequate momentum to let the coconut be
shelled by impaction.

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Kt =1.5 [11]. Hence, the minimum diameter of this

shaft was determined as 22.14 mm using Equation
(8). Thus, a standard solid mild steel shaft of 25mm
in diameter was selected for this machines driven
cutter shaft.
Figure 7 and 8 shows a schematic representation
of the intermediate shaft in the vertical and
horizontal planes respectively.

Fig. 7. Intermediated shaft loading in the vertical

plane

E. Determination of shaft Load and Reactions:

Figure 5 and 6 shows a schematic
representation of the cutter shaft in the vertical
and horizontal planes respectively.

Fig. 8. Intermediated shaft loading in the horizontal

plane

Fig. 5. Cutter shaft loading in the vertical plane

With reference to figure 7,the summation of forces in

the vertical direction is given as
(11)
With reference to figure 8, the summation of forces
on the horizontal direction is given as

Fig. 6. Cutter shaft loading in the horizontal plane

With reference to figure 5, the summation of forces
in the vertical direction is given as
(9)
With reference to figure 6, the summation of forces
on the horizontal direction is given as
(10)
Using the Shelled strength of coconut to be
230N/m,the valves obtained using equations (14) and
(15) are RAV = 22.32 N, RBV = 24.19 N, RBH =
142.5 N and RAH = -104.5 N.
Therefore, the maximum bending moment on this
shaft is 101668 N-mm. The de-shelling of the
coconut fruit by the driven shaft is partially sudden
with minor shock at the start of each operation and
gradual as the process progresses, hence, Kb =1.5 and
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(12)
Using the Shelled strength of coconut to be
230N/m,the valves obtained using equations (11) and
(22) are RAV = 360.41 N, RBV = -224 N and
RcV=232 N , RBH = 1256 N and RAH = --1066 N
and RcH= 1012N.
Thus, the maximum bending moment on the
conveyor shaft is 251877.89Nmm. The twisting and
conveying of coconut fruit by the auger during as the
fruit is been de-shelled is sudden with minor shocks,
hence, Kb = 2 and Kt =1.5 [11]. The minimum
diameter of this intermediated shaft was determined
from Equation (8) as 23.13mm. Therefore, a standard
25mm diameter solid mild steel shaft was selected for
the intermediated shaft.

IV. ENGINEERING ECONOMICS

The estimated cost of the shelling machine was
about Rs25,600, which included material Disc cutter
,bearings, pulleys, rubber v- belt, construction cost,
1-hp motor and profit of the machine for producer
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ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 3), July 2014, pp.39-44
( about 30%, 15%,and 10% respectively). The cost of
cutting per fruit could be evaluated from the fixed
cost (depreciation and interest) and variable cost
(electricity, labour and maintenance). Sink fund
method was used to calculate the fixed cost. Details
of assumption for calculating the variable cost are
given in Table 1
10
year
Machine life
10
%
Salvage Value
0.105
Rs. /Unit
Electricity
Rs./day
1 Labor cost 250
Hours/day
Working hour 8
210
Days/year
Working day
200
Fruits/hour
Machine
capacity
8
%/year
Interest
Table 1

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time. The deshelling process as per each operator was

timed with a stop-watch. Also determined in each test
are number of well deshelled nuts without distortion
on the length of the Shell extract, Ndf and number of
well deshelled nuts with distorted husk extract, Ndw.
Thereafter, the efficiency, and capacity, C of the
machine were computed in each case using the
following relations:
(14)

(15)

VI. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The results of the performance test (Table 2)

show that the machine performed above 86%
efficiency in all the tests cases as expected. It is also
V. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
obvious from this table that the capacity of the
PROCEDURE:
developed machine ranges between 191 and 206 nuts
In order to actualize the aims of this project, the
per hour depending on the operator, however, on
deshelling capacity and efficiency of the coconut
average an operator deshelled 195 nuts per hour with
deshelling machine were evaluated using ten
this machine. This machine was fabricated with
experimental runs after its fabrication. Each test
standard and locally sourced materials and its
involved operating the machine by a different
estimated cost Twenty five thousand six hundred
operator and recording of the total number of fruits,
(Rs.25,600.00)
thus,
the
machine
is
NT each of the twenty operators deshelled in a given
affordable to small scale farmers and maintainable.
Number of
Number of
Number of
well
fruits not
Time
Efficiency
Capacity
S/No.
fruits
deshelled
deshelled
(Second)
(%)
(Coconut/h)
Deshelled
fruits
well
16
14
2
292.58
87.50
196
1
15
13
2
282.68
86.66
191
2
17
16
1
308.78
94.11
198
3
16
15
1
297.56
93.75
193
4
15
13
2
272.78
86.66
197
5
17
15
2
321.89
88.23
190
6
17
15
2
319.85
88.23
191
7
15
14
1
275.90
93.33
195
8
16
14
2
289.91
87.50
199
9
17
16
1
295.71
94.11
206
10
Average
90
195
Table 2: Result of Performance Evaluation of Coconut Deshelling Machine

VII. CONCLUSIONS
A power operated coconut deshelling machine
was designed and developed. Coconut deshelling
machine which deshelled coconuts without nut
breakage and machine is easy to operate and perform
with an average deshelling efficiency and capacity of
90% and 195 nuts per hour. Introduction of this
machine eliminates the problem of extracted shell
length distortion associated with the use of some
risks involved in the use of cut and hold the coconut
de-shelling.

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[2]

[3]

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Mr. Ketan K.Tonpe Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications

ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 4, Issue 7( Version 3), July 2014, pp.39-44
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