Development and testing of a domestic coconut climber

Abstract

Coconut climbing is difficult and drudgery involved operation. With the lack of labour available for climbing and harvesting the coconuts and the difficulties of using the available models of coconut climbers, a domestic coconut climber was developed and tested ergonomically. The developed climber incorporates a block and tackle mechanism for lifting the operator up and down the palm. The operator with a climbing unit moves with the force of the spring raising the clamping unit up the palm. The attachment of clamping unit is made with lifting unit by means of a double sheave pulley. The lifting unit is then operated using block and tackle system. The domestic climber was tested for various physical and physiological parameters using ergonomic principles. The results showed that the domestic climber had a total weight of 7.5 kg with a setting and removing times of 86 s and 54 s respectively. The climber was found to possess adjustment for varying girth of palm, locking mechanism and safety system. The mean heart rate while using the climber was found to be 118.86 beats min - 1 while oxygen consumption of 0.604 lit. min -1 with an energy cost of 12.61 KJ min -1 . The ODR showed a scale of 3.6 indicating light discomfort, OSR of 1.0 ascertened good security and devoid of fear, OER of 4.5 revealed less difficulty in operation. The heart rate measured during the operation of the climbers elucidated the subjects recorded least heart beat rate for domestic climber. Also, the energy cost calculated showed a lower energy requirement for the domestic climber followed by Chembery model. Subjective rating scale employed for comparative evaluation of the climbers reaffirmed a better overall scale rating for the domestic climber compared to the popular coconut climbers in our State.