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Introduction to Engineering and Design (EG-1004)
Mechanical Engineer
September 2023 - December 2023
The automatic pill dispenser was designed to prevent accidental pill overdose and pill negligence for people who suffer from dementia and memory-related issues. It contains 5 different compartments that contain different types of pills. The user can input the number of pills and the time to dispense using an LCD and buttons. When it is time to dispense the pills, an alarm would sound, notifying the user to take their pills and the pills would be dispensed through an opening in the device. I worked effectively in a team of four to successfully design, manufacture, and program an automatic pill dispenser to combat pill overdose and pill negligence. As the mechanical engineer for the project, I was responsible for the CAD design in Fusion 360, as well as manufacturing using the UltiMaker 3D printer and Epilog Mini laser cutter.
Ideation
Ideation
The idea for the mechanical design of the pill dispenser comes from cereal dispensers, where cereal is stored in compartments. at the bottom of these compartments are gears where cereals occupy the spaces between the gear teeth. When the user rotates the gear, cereal is dispensed on the other side. I considered a similar idea, replacing the rotation of the gear with continuous micro servos. Although I initially considered having the five pill compartments lined up in a single row like the cereal dispensers on the right, I decided to organize the compartments in a 2x3 grid pattern to minimize space usage. Also, it allows me to implement a funnel-like system that collects all of the dispensed pills into one area.
Cereal dispenser
Version 1
Version 1
Initial assembly
Pill compartment
The first version of the CAD design contained pill compartments, which would be 3D printed in PLA laying on top of a wooden frame that would be laser cut. The base of the design included the 5 compartments in a 3x2 grid, leaving space on one of them for electronic components to be placed. The first challenge I faced was with the manufacturability of the pill compartments. The pill compartments were initially planned to be printed in one piece, but that proved to be difficult as printing such a large part meant accuracy may be lost in areas that require delicate tolerances. For instance, the servo motors were to be friction-fit to the side of the compartments. But to preserve the tolerances, I created a separate mount for the servo motors that would then be attached to the rest of the compartment.
Pills stuck on the gear
Another problem that I faced was that the dispensing mechanism would sometimes be jammed as multiple pills tried to dispense at the same time. This problem was easily fixed by adding coverings to the dispensing area so that there could only be space for one pill to fit through the gear at the same time. This turned out to be successful in fixing the issue. Even with the compartment full of pills, no jams or blockages prevented the pills from being dispensed.
Version 2
Version 2
Final assmbly (missing one compartment)
The final version of the pill dispenser fixed several key issues that were associated with the previous version. For instance, the design for the compartments was adjusted to prevent pills from jamming the gear. The slope of the hopper below the compartments was increased to prevent the pills from getting stuck in the hopper rather than being dispensed through the hole. Dimensions were adjusted so that all of the electronics could fit in it. The wooden frame was laser cut in birch wood. 5 mm screws were used to fasten the compartments to the wooden frame.
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