Mix-A-Lot
Team members:
- Peter Bowlin
- Daniel Clement
- Trevor Fine
- Joshua Kline
- Thomas Sterling
We propose a device that accurately measures different volumes of liquids from four containers and combines the liquids into a single container. Practical applications for this include mixing soft drinks, mixing colors out of primary colors or mixing any other liquid. The apparatus will have four bottles elevated with tubes running from each bottle combining in a cup below. With these four bottles we will also be adding in the ability to change all of them. Infrared flow meters on each tube will individually measure the volume of the liquid entering the cup, allowing each bottle to add to the cup simultaneously. These flow meters will also allow us to track the amount of fluid out of each of the bottles to be able to sense present fullness. Valves on each tube will stop and start the flow of liquid into the cup. The cup will be located on a scale in for calibration and failsafe purposes. A microcontroller controls the values and flow meters. The user will interface to the machine through a touch screen. Preprogrammed mixtures can be selected or the user can create their own combination and save it. Each bottle will have its own RGB LED for status indication. These LEDs can also be used for aesthetically pleasing affects. In our final wave of the project we would like to add in either Bluetooth/wifi connectivity or host a server from the mixer to report current levels of mixes in order to communicate with central distribution.