Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | Automated Homemade Dog Food Production Machine |
Jingyang Chen Wenkai Zheng Zekai Song Zixi Zhao |
design_document1.pdf final_paper1.pdf final_paper2.pdf other1.pdf other2.pdf other3.pdf other4.pdf video1.mp4 |
Fangwei Shao | |
| #Problem Many dog owners prefer to prepare homemade food for their pets using fresh ingredients such as vegetables and meat. However, manually preparing dog food is time-consuming and inconsistent. Ingredients must be chopped, mixed, shaped, and dried to produce stable dog food pieces suitable for storage and feeding. Existing kitchen appliances such as blenders or food processors can perform only part of this process, requiring users to manually transfer and process ingredients multiple times. There is currently no compact system designed specifically to automate the entire pipeline of preparing and forming homemade dog food pellets from raw household ingredients. Therefore, a system that can automatically process common ingredients and convert them into dry dog food pellets would significantly simplify homemade pet food preparation. #Solution Overview Our solution is an automated machine that converts raw household ingredients into dry dog food pellets through a sequence of mechanical processing stages. First, raw ingredients such as vegetables, meat pieces, or ground meat are placed into a feeding chamber. A rotating blade mechanism chops and grinds the ingredients into smaller particles. The processed mixture then enters a cylindrical mixing chamber containing a screw auger that continuously mixes and transports the material. The mixture is then extruded through an outlet where a rotating cutting blade divides the extruded material into small pellet-like pieces. These pellets fall onto a tray where a hot-air drying system removes moisture and solidifies the food into stable dog food pieces. A microcontroller-based control system will coordinate the motors and heating elements to regulate the chopping, mixing, extrusion, cutting, and drying processes. #Solution Components [Ingredient Processing Subsystem] Chopping blade module: A rotating blade driven by an electric motor to chop raw ingredients into smaller particles. Mixing and transport module: A cylindrical chamber with a screw auger that mixes ingredients and transports them toward the extrusion outlet. [Pellet Formation Subsystem] Extrusion outlet: A nozzle structure that shapes the mixed food material into a continuous output stream. Rotating cutting blade: A motor-driven blade that cuts the extruded material into small pellet-sized pieces. [Drying Subsystem] Hot-air drying module: A heating element and fan system that circulate warm air to remove moisture from the pellets and form stable dog food pieces. [Control Subsystem] Microcontroller unit: Controls motor operation, timing of each processing stage, and temperature of the drying system. #Criterion for Success The chopping and mixing mechanism must produce a sufficiently uniform mixture suitable for extrusion. The extrusion and cutting system must produce pellets of relatively consistent size. The drying subsystem must remove sufficient moisture so that the pellets maintain their shape and can be stored without immediate spoilage. The system must operate automatically once ingredients are loaded, coordinating the chopping, mixing, extrusion, cutting, and drying processes. |
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