Engineer brings to you - TechVenture - the event for the budding technical entrepreneur in you. It is observed that to be a successful entrepreneur having a brilliant idea is necessary but not sufficient. You need to be capable of solving problems encountered during the execution of your plan. TechnVenture brings to you an opportunity to solve a real problem faced by an entrepreneur using your technical skills.

India is one of the leading producers of coconuts in the world. About 55‐60% of the total production of the country is used for various food preparations whereas the balance quantity goes for oil extracton. Coconut oil is used as a cooking medium in certain parts of the country and is also popular hair oil.Desiccated Coconut (DC) is simply coconut meat which has been shredded or flaked and then dried to remove as much moisture as possible. DC, also known as coconut powder, is in dry form and has many applications. Its shelf life is longer and it is easy to transport.

    The steps of coconut processing are simple and fixed. Fully grown and matured coconuts of around 1 year are stored with husk for about a month to facilitate absorption of water and separation of coconut kernels from shell walls. After de-husking, their shells are removed and brown portion is removed by scrapping it off and in this process around 12-15% of the kernel goes as paring which is further processed to obtain oil, and thus there is a ready market for this by-product. Subsequently, de-shelled coconuts are broken into pieces, washed and disintegrated in powder form. This powder is then dried in tray drier at about 70-80 C and powder is stirred occasionally to ensure uniform drying. On cooling, it is passed through vibratory screen with different mesh sizes to segregate the powder according to mesh size. Finally, it is packed in moisture and oil-proof polythene-lined plywood boxes.

        The above steps are currently highly dependent on manual labour and this brings about non-uniformity in the output, both in terms of quantity and quality. Hence the entrepreneur is looking for a complete mechanization of the process.

A participant is free to address any of the 3 areas that he/she could tackle.

• Deshelling and dehusking Problem
• Paring
• Cutting and Washing

• Participants in the competition are required to design machines/mechanisms that could be used to reduce the dependence on the manual labour, which is in shortage and is the factor that results in non-uniformity in the production process.
• The participants are expected to design a cost-effective method for maximizing output within the constraints of the problem statement.
• Describe the design using a 3-D model or animations using SolidWorks, Catia, 3DS Max, Maya, autocad 3D or Flash.
• Present your design before the Entrepreneur during Engineer.

•  The students must carry valid student ID cards of their college which they will be required   to produce at the time of registration.
•  Participants should submit an abstract of about 150 words to bizevents@engineer.org.in by 20^th October 2011, following which they will be given an opportunity to present their design before the entrepreneur. The abstract should contain information about the problems the design will solve(which of the three mentioned),a brief description of proposed solution and details about the team.  
• A team may comprise of 2 to 4 members and a person can be a part of only one team.
• Ideas have to be original and feasible.
• You can try to solve more than one problem.
• Judges decision is final.

• Cash prizes of up to Rs.25000 for proposing the most feasible solution for any of the problems mentioned in the problem statement.
• The winning idea will be jointly owned by the sponsor and the winning team.
• The winner will be given an opportunity to work with the entrepreneur to build a prototype, which will be proposed to the Coconut Board, Karnataka, if the implementation of the idea proves to be successful in the factory.

ABC Coconut Products Pvt Ltd

About the company:

It is a medium sized enterprise that manufactures Desiccated coconut (DC) by purchasing the coconut grown in regions around the factory and is situated in Kundapura.

• DEHUSKING:Dehusking is generally a manual operation by the labour at the factory; however given that most of the coconut bought from vendors is already dehusked it is pretty quick to begin the process.
• DESHELLING:where the hard shell of coconut is broken through a manual mechanism of chipping this shell off using a hatchet. 
• PAIRING: Removal of the brown skin over the coconut.

• Recovery of desiccated coconut largely depends upon quality of coconuts. But on an
  average processing of 100 coconuts gives around 12‐13 kgs of coconut powder.
  By‐products like parings and shell can be sold in the market.

• Useful links:

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrRB08yyteE&feature=related

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuU--YoQ_Bg

• Efficiency in chipping: minimum kernel pieces are to be chipped out while breaking the shell.  Machine should be able to chip more than 300 coconuts per hour.
• Efficiency in pairing: The thickness of the removed brown testa must be very thin and it should be separately collected. Machine should be able to pair more than 300 coconuts per hour.
• Coconut should not come in contact with foreign material like grease and should be useful for food manufacturing.
• Total wastage should be less than 12.5% of the average weight of the coconut.
• Coconut water should be separately collected and it should not mix with water that is used to wash.
• Recyling of water adds to good performance.

Madhumitha Sridhara   (+91) 9663209721

Mail your queries/submissions to bizevents@engineer.org.in