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1. Principles and processes

Goals

Plan and sketch a potential final project

My project will be a vegetable washing machine

Goal is to create a counter top kitchen appliance that can wash and dry greens and other vegetables via a pre set cycle.

Project description

VMS SKETCH

Veg Washing Machine

There are 4 main parts to the appliance

  1. Water reservoir

  2. Main container (Wash basin)- base is designed to have a gravity fed drain

  3. Lid with build in sprinkler

  4. Vegetable holding bowel that sites in the Wash basin and spins to dry

There are 2 Motor/pump used

  1. Water pump to move water from reservoir to sprinkler head

  2. Motor to spin Vegetable bowel

There are 2 potential sensors

  1. Lid sensor - stop operation if lid is open mid cycle

  2. Water level sensor to alert if reservoir is empty

Microcontroller usage

  1. Control sequencing of pumps / motors

  2. Interrupt operation if sensor is triggered

  3. Manage GUI

GUI

  1. Based display and buttons

  2. Allow user to start cycle

  3. Wash only

  4. Dry only

  5. Wash/dry

  6. Announce alerts (ready/water empty/finished)

Motor drive example design for high speed dryer

I like the automated spinning salad dryer that the You Tuber The Practical Engineer designed

I think that he has a good spinner design and using this approach can allow me to allow users to put in any colander they wish.

Align parts to Fab Academy weekly topics

Weekly topics Parts
Computer controlled cutting Outbox / wash basin holder
Electronics production Controller, motor ESC, Sensors
3D Scanning and printing Motor housing, water connectors, sprinkler head, sproket/chain for motor drive
Electronics design sensors / controller board / Motor ESC
Computer controlled machining Controller board
Embedded programming Cycle design / User input
Molding and casting Drain / Spinning plate
Input devices GUI buttons / Sensors
Output devices Screen

Key component breakdown

Outer box - Plexiglass

Wash basin holder - Plexiglass / 3d print

Water reservoir - molding / buying

Electronic housing - 3D print

spinner mechanism - 3D print

Bowel - Molding / casting

Lid - 3D Print

Water pump / sprinkler mechanism - 3D print / electronics

Sensors - 1) Lid sensor 2) Water level sensor

Controller board -

Display/Buttons

Water connections - 3 Print or buy

Last update: March 26, 2023