Crown Icing Dispenser
Team: Cooper Gray, Abigail Hymas, Ben Mohlman, and Summer Wooten
Project Description
- Baking has become a popular hobby or lifestyle worldwide. Piping bags are the go-to tool for decorating baked goods.
- By using these piping bags throughout the workday, it creates a lot of stress and wear on bakers’ hands.
- Arthritis, joint or hand pain, and muscle fatigue are common ailments among full-time bakers.
- Given the lack of available products addressing this issue, we worked together with our sponsor to develop a design that could assist bakers to help prevent hand discomfort and injury.
- Our task is to create a product that enables bakers to use piping bags without applying pressure, thus relieving strain on their hands.
Design Description
- Dispenser design and system breakdown:
- Housing (purple)
- Pressure system (red)
- Mechanical power transfer system (green)
- Electronics system (yellow)
Performance Review
Performance Overview
| Requirement | Measurement | Units | Target | Threshold | Predicted | Actual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy to open device | Force to take cap off | N | <1 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| Easy to place piping bag | Area of Opening | cm2 | 50 | 20 | 33 | 63 |
| Easy to close/secure piping bag | Force to Secure Cap | N | 2 | 0.2 | 1 | 12 |
| Light and easy to lift | Weight of Device | N | 5 | 8 | 6.8 | 5 |
| Easy to hold and maneuver | Surface Area of Handle Contact | cm2 | 115 | 40 | 95 | 45 |
| Dispenses at a consistent flow rate | Flow Rate does not deviate | g/s | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Easy to store/small product | Volume | cm3 | 200 | 1700 | 800 | 1208 |
Conclusions
How Were Requirements Met
- Prototype is easy to use
- Compact design
- Need to reduce weight
- Enhance grip
- Implement a more efficient pressure system
- Improve consistency of frosting flow rate
Lessons Learned
- Involve sponsor sooner and communicate better
- Begin designing and testing earlier
- Send prototypes sooner for feedback
- Focus less on exploring many designs at first
- Spend more time refining sponsor's original idea
- Prioritize early testing over design exploration
Recommended Future Work
- Optimize components for mass production with custom parts
- Improve Arduino code for motor speed
- Find better materials/designs for rollers and consider gear-like rollers for better bag grip
- Get help from a process engineer for mass production and cheaper production