ME 478 Product Development – Spring 2022

Haseung Chung
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering

Autonomous Mixing and Depositing System for 3D Printing

The objective is to develop an automated mixing and depositing system of an olive oil – sand mixture which can be adopted by 3D printing machines based on resin-powder (metal, ceramic) mixture.

The requirements of system are the following:

1. The system should be capable of combining and homogeneously mixing a solution of 1:4 weight ratio of olive oil and sand (i.e. 5 grams of oil and 20 grams of sand).
2. The olive oil mixed with sand should be deposited on a 10 x 10 cm platform in a weight controlled manner.

Presumably, the system might consist of:

1. A material supplying module. This module is capable of adding sand and extruding oil into the mixer with a specific weight ratio. This is very similar to what the binder jet 3D printer does.
2. A mixing module. Blend the oil and sand together until the solution is homogeneous.
3. A deposition module. Deposit a certain amount of the mixed solution (10 grams).

Evaluation criteria:

1. The homogeneity of the solution will be inspected visually.
2. The quantity of the deposition will be based on the weight of each deposition.

If necessary, the electric motors must be controlled by MyRio, which will be provided. Starting from an individual project and progressing into a team project, each team must produce the machine through a series of design and manufacturing tasks. Each student needs to contribute individually as well as collaboratively to accomplish a series of tasks. CAD/CAM packages, CNC machining, rapid prototyping, testing, etc. will be used to produce the machine.

Teams and Team Members