Techno-Economic Feasibility Study of Low Cost Gravity Ropeway for Carrying Agricultural Produce in Hilly Terrain

The agricultural produce from the field to the homestead/market or road head in the mountain areas is transported mainly by the women and children on their back hanging from the forehead. Construction of farm road and bridges in hilly area is difficult, costly and require frequent maintenance due to landslide besides environmental degradation. A study on feasibility of transporting the agricultural produce in hilly area by gravity fed ropeway was conducted at College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology (CAEPHT), Gangtok at 30⁰ slope and 150 m span. It was observed that the speed of the ropeway is insignificantly affected by the loading capacity, the load ratio between the upward and downward load went on reducing as the upward load was increased and relation between the gravity load and lifting load with regression coefficient of 0.9978 was observed. The regression equation “y = 1.1594 x + 12.727” may be used to find out the gravity load required for carrying a particular load from lower station to upper station. The constant 12.727 indicate the dead load to initiate the movement of trolley which may be due to frictional force between rope and pulley of the trolley at this particular slope and span. Actual loading ratio should be carefully evaluated and should be maintained. If the loading ratio is not properly maintained, the trolley will either approach the station with excessive speed or stop in between. This may be achieved by maintaining the average speed of the trolley at 5.13 ms⁻¹.