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DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED COCONUT SCRAPING MACHINE

Conference Paper · November 2020

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To cite this paper:
B.G.V. Mendes, K. Dikgale, L.K. Tartibu, T.J. Kunene. 2020. Development of an automated
coconut scraping machine. 9th International Conference on Appropriate Technology.
November 2020. Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria. pp. 920-933.
 DEVELOPMENT OF AN AUTOMATED COCONUT SCRAPING MACHINE
B.G.V. Mendes, K. Dikgale, L.K. Tartibu, T.J. Kunene
University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
ltartibu@uj.ac.za

Abstract
Coconuts are a very popular fruit worldwide. They have a variety of uses, as well as health
and nutritional benefits. The uses of coconuts range from cooking and nutrition to skin
health, cancer prevention, beauty products, and fuel. Scraping coconut is a laborious and
time-consuming process. The manual process requires the operator to both rotate and apply
pressure to scrape out the flesh of the coconut. The commercialised coconut scraping
machines that are available are not fully automated and still involve manual effort. The semi-
automated process requires the operator to hold the coconut half-shell against a rotary blade
usually powered by an electric motor. In both methods, the operator is presented with
different risks of injury. This paper describes how an automated coconut scraping machine
has been developed to solve the well-known challenges regarding grating coconuts. The
design proposed in this study eliminates virtually all hazards related to coconut scrapers. It
is a fully-automated machine that reduces both risk and effort on the part of the operator.
The system incorporates an adjustable blade that allows movement along two axes. A
clamping mechanism that moves in the third direction allows a three-dimensional movement.
The mounting of the coconut half shell in the clamp takes no more than fifteen seconds. Upon
mounting, at the push of a start button, the scraping of the coconut is completely automatic.
Details of the design and development of the working model constitute the main contribution
of this paper.

Keywords: automated, coconut, design, development, scraper

INTRODUCTION

Coconuts are a very popular fruit worldwide. They have a variety of uses including health
and nutritional benefits. The uses of coconut include:

 Cooking and nutrition

 Skin health; cancer prevention
 Beauty products
 Fuel (Charcoal)

In small-scale coconut processing, coconuts are cracked with the use of a hammer or knife.
The kernel is extracted using hand tools or mounted-type coconut scrapers. Even in small-
scale coconut processing, the use of manual tools is very tedious and effort is required
(Practical Action, 2008). Manually-operated coconut scraper machines are portable and may
be used effectively in households, using the clamping screw to clamp the entire mechanism
securely on a table. As one rotates the manual handle, the rotation is transferred to the
scraping bit (Figure 1a). The dehusked coconut half-shell is pressed against the sharp bit
while in rotation (Figure 1b). This device requires a fair amount of effort to grate a coconut.
Attention is required by the operator because if a slip occurs, serious injuries may result.
 (a) (b)
Figure 1: (a) Typical manually-operated coconut scraper machine and (b) Coconut section
showing a structure

Many of the semi-automated commercial scrapers use the scraping part of the manually-
operated scraper coupled to an electric motor. The scraping bit may have a different design
but all perform a similar action and require similar effort to scrape. A typical semi-automated
coconut scraper is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Semi-automated coconut scraper (Adapted from Mock, 1940)

A compact design for coconut scrapers was proposed by Sajil Raj, Anshadh, Raj & Ahsana
(2016) consisting mainly of a clamp (locking mechanism), movers (for lateral and forward
feed), a coconut holder, a motor (to rotate the coconut), a plate holder, and blades (for
scraping of the coconut). Another design of a coconut breaker extractor grater machine was
described by James, Joy, Shaji, Chandy & John (2016) comprising mainly of a motor,
breaking tool, grating tool, body, an angle plate, a hanging weight, two pulleys (motor and
shaft), bearings and a spring. A review of a multipurpose grating machine was conducted by
Bapat, Ballewar, Sarode & Hande (2018). This machine consists mainly of a cylindrical
drum, blade, v-belts, motor, and steel frame. Senthil Kumar, Kamaraj, Kaviraju, Mano
Bharathi (2018) proposed a multi-blade coconut scraping machine with a single drive. The
system consists of a frame, worm shafts, worm gears, blades, a motor, and chain drives.
There are several existing patents related to “coconut scraper (grater)” (Thompson &
Thompson Noel, 1984; Kannukkaden, 1993; Kumar, 2004; Zaldivar, 2016). All of these
offerings are either manual or semi-automatic with specific features. A more flexible device
for scraping and extracting coconut flesh from a half coconut with minimal human
intervention and greater convenience was proposed by Mattathil (2019). This device
incorporates variable-width, variable-movement-control, and variable-opening-entry
mechanisms.

Motivation

Grating coconuts is time-consuming and laborious. For several decades, coconuts have been
scraped in the same manner. In this paper, we propose a concept that could make the coconut
scraping process fully automated. It is expected that the design proposed in this paper will
significantly reduce coconut scraping and − most importantly − mitigate risks linked to the
work.

The objective of this paper is to describe the development of an automated coconut scraping
machine. Coconuts come in different shapes and sizes. For the design to be automated, it
would have to significantly reduce all operator input during operation. In addition, the new
design needs to accommodate various sizes and shapes of the coconuts (Table 1). The new
scraping machine has to be designed in such a way that it can be self-adjusting, based on the
size and shape of the coconut. In conventional coconut scrapers, the sharp bit turns at a high
revolution rate. The operator holds the dehusked coconut shell and presses the inside of the
shell, containing the flesh, against the rotating sharp bit. This process is time-consuming and
poses some safety hazards as well. Designing a mechanism that can mimic the operator
during scraping coconuts is therefore necessary. To the authors’ knowledge, there are no
studies that describe the development of a fully- automated scraping machine. The
commercial coconut scraping machines that are available are not fully automated and still
require physical involvement by an operator.

Table 1: Coconut particulars (Adapted from Sabale & Kolhe, 2016)

Particulars Dry Coconut
Shape Ovoid
Length, mm 210-270
Diameter, mm 160-206
Weight, kg 0.62-1.25
Shell Diameter, mm 80-120
Husk Thickness – at pedicel end, mm 62
Husk Thickness – at apex end, mm 34
Husk Thickness – 1/4th distance from pedicel end,
32
mm
Husk Thickness – 1/2th distance from pedicel end,
24
mm
Husk Thickness – 3/4th distance from pedicel end,
28
mm

Methodology
The approach leading to the concept of the coconut scraping machine described in this paper
can be summarised as a five-step process: problem definition and research objective;
literature review; development of the scraper mechanism; development of the clamp
mechanism; description of the electrical and control systems; detailed design. The problem
and objective have been defined in the first two sections of the paper as a preliminary step of
the design process. A literature review was conducted to understand how the coconut is
structured. Existing concepts of coconut machines have been analysed to identify features
that could be incorporated in the proposed model. The scraper mechanism was developed to
make provision for movement along at least two axes. The selection of material was done
based on existing designs and the coconut kernel requirement. The clamp mechanism was
developed to hold the coconut firmly in place and ensure that the time taken to mount the
coconut is relatively short. The brief overview of the electrical and control circuits was based
on the working of the main sub-systems of the model proposed in this paper.
Description of the design

Specifications and requirements

The following section summarises the specifications and requirements considered for the
design of the scraper machine:

 The machine must be portable. The size has been estimated to be 1.045 m x 0.46 m x
0.143 m
 The system must be fully automated
 The effort required to grate the coconuts must be reduced significantly
 There must be few to no contacts with moving parts
 The machine must be completely automatic after the half shell coconut is placed in the
clamp
 The machine must be capable of running at relatively high speed
 The machine must be robust.

Development of scraper mechanism

a. Scraping blade mechanism

Figure 3 provides the details of the coconut scraping blade mechanism. The stepper motor
activates the linear movement of the pusher sleeve. The pusher sleeve, in turn, adjusts the
angle of the scraping blade to accommodate the shape of the coconut to be scraped.
Underneath a DC motor provides rotation to the blade through the pulley belt.

Figure 3: Scraping blade mechanism

b. Scissor mechanism
The scissor mechanism allows for the adjustment of the blades at the end. The bearings are
press-fitted into the pulley housing. The nylon bushing decreases friction and allows the
rotation of the scissor mechanism independently from the stepper motor. The majority of the
mechanism is machined from 316ss stainless steel. The pivot joints are firmly held by steel
pins and circlips as a retainer. Details of the scissor mechanism are shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Scissor mechanism of the scraper blade

c. Bushings
The scraper mechanism has several moving parts so a method of reducing friction between
moving parts is essential. There are two types of bushing used in the proposed design. The
nylon bushings were chosen to take advantage of the self-lubricating properties of nylon.
Nylon to steel has a coefficient of friction of 0.4 (Engineering toolbox, 2004). The nylon
bushings (white coloured parts) in the scraper mechanism allow the scraper blades to rotate
about the driven pulley without rotating the stepper motor at the back (Figure 5). It separates
the sleeves and the scissor mechanism. The sleeve provides linear movement to allow the
scraper blades to adjust to the distance between them. At the bottom of the frame, a retainer
prevents the sleeve from rotating. The pivot bushing in Figure 6 is important in the sense that
it avoids metal-to-metal contact. A quiet rotation will be the result of including nylon
bushings in critical moving parts. The brass bushing is used in the design to centralise the
lead screw at the free end. Brass is a material very commonly used as a bushing due to its
malleability. Because brass is softer than stainless steel, the brass will adjust its shape while
in contact to make up for the tolerance inaccuracies of fabrication and machining.

Figure 5: View of scraper mechanical bushings

 Figure 6: Pivot bushings and rotation section view

d. Pulley system
The pulley system was designed in the simplest way possible (Figure 7). The system consists
of two pulleys: the driver and the driven pulleys. The driver pulley is mounted directly on the
direct current (DC) motor, while the driven pulley system performs three functions:
transmission of power, bearing housing, and mounting features for the scissor plates in the
pivot section. The bearing is press-fit onto the driven pulley and the frame. The bearing may
be taken as the main rotation section of the mechanism.

Figure 7: Illustration of the pulley system

e. Rotation to linear motion conversion

The motor shaft and lead screw are coupled via a brass coupler, the free end of the lead screw
is centralised and supported by using a brass bushing as shown in Figures 7 and 8. The motor
rotation causes a linear movement of the sleeve which is threaded to the same specifications
as the lead screw. The movement of the sleeve is transferred to the scissor mechanism via the
nylon bushings.
 Figure 8: Section view of rotation to linear conversion

f. Scraper frames
The frames are constructed from aluminium 6068-T6, which is advantageous for its weight-
to-strength ratio. The frame shown in Figure 9 will be used to mount the stepper motor. The
front part allows for the press-fitting of the bearing and the assembly of the scissor
mechanism of the scraper blade. The frame shown in Figure 8 will be fastened to the coupler
frame using six M8 screws and nuts. This structure acts as a supporting frame for the DC
motor. The DC motor in turn is coupled to a driver pulley as shown in Figure 5. The
manufacturing process to adopt for the fabrication of the parts shown in Figure 9 and 10 may
be sheet metal bending. The features on the plate may be done by Computer Numerical
Control (CNC), plasma cutting, or water jet cutting.

Figure 9: Stepper motor and coupler Frame

Figure 10: DC motor frame

Development of the clamp mechanism

a. Coconut clamping mechanism
The coconut clamp was designed to hold various sizes or shapes of half-shell dehusked
coconut. The design consists of three clamp arms spaced 120⁰ apart. A clamp-tightening rod
is part of the design to secure the coconut in place and restrain any movement during
scraping. A second stepper motor is used to move the clamp linearly using a lead screw
coupled to the stepper motor. With the scraping blade mechanism and clamp mechanism
aligned, scraping can be regulated through a suitable control system. Details of the clamping
mechanism are shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: Coconut clamping mechanism

b. Clamp arms and tightening rod

The clamp arms are part of the clamping mechanism; three clamp arms are separated by 120o.
At one end, a pivot hole feature is machined while at the other end is a 90o coconut shell edge
retainer feature. A leaf spring, attached to the arms, is used to maintain the arms at an initial
position at all times. . When inserting a coconut half shell, the spring will deflect, allowing
the coconut to enter past the 90o coconut shell edge retainer feature. The spring-loaded end
piece is assembled to face the back and perpendicular to the cut section of the half-shell
coconut (Figure 12). As the coconut half-shell is inside the clamp, the spring-loaded end
piece will deflect and will serve the function of a stopper, so that the coconut is not pushed in
too far. The threaded rod that is assembled to the end piece is tightened via the knob. The
result is a secured coconut ready for the scraping process. The three-sided plate is assembled
to the sleeve that serves multiple functions. The sleeve is designed in such a way that it
provides the pivot support required by the clamp arms. It provides a mounting face for the
arm springs and the three-sided plate which has the guide rod bushings and stepper motor
sleeve mounting features. All components are mounted to a frame made from aluminium
6063-T6 (Figure 13).

Figure 12: Spring loaded piece

 Figure 13: Coconut clamp

c. A brief overview of the electrical and control systems

When the motor is running at no-load current, the current required by the motor is only to
overcome internal friction. The torque load may be assumed to be zero. This zero torque may
only be achieved when the scraper mechanism is running without a coconut. The relationship
between torque and current tells us that the torque produced by a motor is proportional to the
current. As the scraper blades come into contact with the flesh of the coconut, the torque
load increases as the coconut react to the force being applied to it. The current range, while
the blades are in contact with the fleshy portion of the coconut, is to be programmed on the
control circuit as the scraping current. The resistance of the shell is much higher than that of
the flesh. Therefore, the torque produced by the motor when in contact with the hard coconut
shell will be higher. This hard-shell torque must be taken into account during programming.
The control circuit will avoid the hard shell by decreasing the angle of the scissor mechanism.
It will increase the angle when it is rotating in free air and the torque is nearly zero. Figure
14 provides the circuit layout that could be used to control the rotation of both clamp stepper
motors. This circuit will receive signals from the current sensor and adjust the rotation of the
motors accordingly.

Figure 14: Basic circuit layout of the main components

Detailed design
a. Scraper mechanism and clamp mechanism
Both the clamp and scraper mechanisms are mounted to an injection-moulded bottom base
and aligned. As seen in Figures 15 and 16, the stepper motors and DC motor are electrically
connected to the control circuit containing the current sensor. The control system design falls
outside the scope of this paper so a detailed description of the control circuit has not been
discussed in this paper. As shown in Figure 15, rubber feet are assembled to the injection-
moulded bottom base, providing friction that eliminates any unwanted movement due to the
vibrations of the machine. It acts as a vibration absorber.

Figure 15: Aligned clamp and scraper mechanisms

Figure 16: Top view of aligned scraper and clamp mechanisms

b. Overall design
The concept developed in this paper incorporates a scraping blade mechanism that can be
self-adjusting, based on the size of the coconut while in rotation. The spreading of the
scraping blade is regulated by an electric stepper motor. A DC motor coupled to a pulley
system facilitates the rotation of the blade. The coconut half-shell is then mounted on the
coconut clamp. A coconut clamp tightening rod is used to clamp and tighten the coconut
shell. The clamp mechanism is also fitted with a stepper motor to create a linear movement to
the clamped coconut. Through a suitable control system, both stepper motors may be
controlled so that scraping may take place efficiently. By controlling the current flowing
through the DC motor (and subsequently the torque), it is possible to maintain a constant
torque which is linked to the steps of both stepper motors. This contact torque is the torque
required to overcome friction when the blade is in contact with the coconut flesh. An
overview of the automatic coconut scraping machine is shown in Figure 17(a) & (b). The
working of each mechanism is described in the following sections.

(a)

(b)
Figure 17: Coconut scraper concept

Scraping process
Knowing that the coconut flesh has a certain resistance (or rather friction coefficient to
overcome the scrape action), the hard shell of the coconut also has a coefficient of friction
different from the flesh. The control system can be programmed to assess and detect the
differences. The resistance will cause an increase or decrease in torque, which will ultimately
cause a change in the current flowing through the DC motor. By knowing the range of
resistance caused by the coconut flesh, the blade can be restricted to scrape only the coconut
flesh. The following summarises the scraping process:
  Step 1. The rotating blade cuts through the first section of the coconut flesh, made
possible by activating the clamp stepper motor moving the clamp forward for contact
(Figure 18).

Figure 18: Step 1 of the scraping process

 Step 2. Figure 19 shows the spreading of the scraping blades by activating both
stepper motors, the stepper motor in the clamp mechanism, and the stepper motor in
the blade mechanism.

Figure 19: Step 2 of the scraping process

 Step 3. The same process is repeated. All the processes are made possible by
controlling the friction levels in the circuitry that controls all the mechanism (Figure
20).

Figure 20: Step 3 of the scraping process

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Coconuts are considered to be fruit with a variety of uses. The edible fleshy part of the
coconut is one of its softest parts, yet it requires considerable effort to remove it from the
coconut shell. Several approaches are proposed to remove the flesh of the coconut more
safely and easily. The approaches can be classified as manual, semi-automatic and automatic,
corresponding respectively to the manual scraper, semi-automatic scraper, and automated
scrapers. This paper’s objective was to design an automated scraper that will reduce time and
effort, and be more safe and efficient when compared to the manual and semi-automatic
scrapers. The design incorporates two stepper motors, a DC motor, a scraping blade
mechanism, a clamping mechanism, a scissor mechanism, scraper frames, bushings, pulley
systems, clamp arms, a tightening rod and the control circuit. A detailed description of the
components, the modules, and the mechanism used to develop the automated system is
provided. The coconut clamp was designed to grip various sizes or shapes of half-shell de-
husked coconuts. The concept developed in this paper incorporates a scraping blade
mechanism that can be self-adjusting, based on the size of the coconut while in rotation. The
spreading of the scraping blade is regulated by an electric stepper motor. A DC motor
coupled to a pulley system facilitates the rotation of the blade. The coconut half-shell is then
mounted on the coconut clamp. A coconut clamp tightening rod is used to clamp and tighten
the coconut shell. The clamp mechanism is also fitted with a stepper motor to create a linear
movement to the clamped coconut. Through a suitable control system, both stepper motors
may be controlled so that scraping may take place efficiently. Future work will provide
clarity about the materials used, the size of all components/modules, and the control circuit
suitable for this system.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This Conference paper was partly supported financially by the National Research Foundation
of South Africa with Grant number: 127395.

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