The Design and fabrication of an Automated Rice Weighing and Dispensing Machine (ARWDM)

• Main Authors: Arroyo, Kristen Ashley Q., Barbasa, John Christopher G., David, Maria Lou Anne B., Del Mundo, Ian Andre P., Laforteza, Maria Rebecca O.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Subjects: Scales (Weighing instruments); Weighing instruments
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/14537
• Institution: De La Salle University

A company engaged in wholesale/retail rice business offers different rice variants to its customers and operates from 6:30 AM to 5:30 PM. In retailing, the company presently employs three workers to weigh and dispense rice using an analog weighing scale. The company finds it expensive to maintain three workers just for this process. It is therefore essential to automate such weighing and dispensing process for the benefit of the company. This study is involved with the design and fabrication of a prototype of a automated rice weighing and dispensing machine to reduce the manpower requirement and cost, and have an acceptable tolerance for error of +5.00% of the desired weight. The machine is designed to accurately weigh and dispense rice in three pack weights - 1.0 kg. 2.0 kg, and 3.0 kg - and in three variants using only one weighing scale and dispensing mechanism with the product flow being regulated by an infeed screw. The machine has a touch screen user interface, and is controlled by a programmable logic controller. Experiments were conducted to validate the efficiency of the machine. Significantly, the machine has 100% accuracy in variant dispensing, 0.4731% error in weight dispensing, much lower than the acceptable tolerance for error, 145.820% rate of return with a payback period of 8.6374 months and an annualized savings of Php 168,862.59. With the good results of the experiments and the economical benefits for the company, automation of the rice weighing and dispensing is indubitably a practical investment for the company.