Increasing the Comfort of the Harianavi Bullocks by Reduction of Contact Pressure on Neck by Designing a Body Contoured Yoke.

A yoke is an interface between bullock power and actual work to be performed. The yoke is worn on the neck of the bullocks and is secured by a belt around the neck. The bullocks push the yoke with their shoulders, hump and neck; therefore, the work is performed. Neck of the bullock is subjected to a high pressure which damages the body tissues. Consequently, bullocks are subjected to injuries, pain and fatigue that limit their performance. The neck seats are shaped similar to the neck profile of the bullocks which ensures high contact area between animal body and neck seat leading to lesser pressure and more animal comfort. The neck of a bullock was digitized using an optical scanner and a large number of points were obtained. The 3-D model was created on the digitized points, and the neck seat was developed subsequently. The contact analysis was performed using the augmented Lagrangian formulation option of Ansys Workbench for predicting contact pressure. The results of the body contoured yoke are compared with that of a flat wooden plank yoke and a cylindrical yoke. A substantial reduction of contact pressure and indentation on the neck has been found for the body contoured yoke. Conversely, the contact pressure was found much higher for other two types of yokes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]