Performance evaluation of a pedal-cum-power operated ice crusher

A study on performance evaluation of pedal-cum-power operated ice crusher was designed and developed to crush the blocks ice into small pieces, so that the fshermen can carry ice blocks on-board and crush them as and when required for storage of harvested fshes. It is also useful to retail vendors of crushed ice. The developed ice crusher consists of a feeding chute with ice guiding facility, a crushing cylinder with spikes, outlet slots with inclined chute, a fywheel, a two step chain and sprocket drive mechanism with a seat and pedal assembly and an electric motor (1 hp). Conical sharp edged spikes (24 nos.) were provided on eight cross bars with 20° helix angle. The average cylinder speed was 480 rpm and 720 rpm for manual and power assisted operating conditions respectively. The average quantity of ice crushed was about 900 kg/h for manual and 3000 kg/h for power operated. This increase in the crushing capacity might be due to the higher cylinder speed developed by the electric motor. Due to the higher output, the cost of production of crushed ice with electric power decreased to Rs. 0.88 per block as compared to Rs. 2.66 for Pedal operation. The crushed ice was used for the preservation of harvested fsh for further transportation and processing.