Soft ice cream vending machine

• Main Authors: Cheng, Oliver Gordon R., Luy, Kervin O., Musngi, Haydee M., Tan, Angela Lorraine S.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2005
• Subjects: Ice cream; ices; etc; Vending machines
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_honors/313
• Institution: De La Salle University

Soft ice cream machines today are manually operated. At least one operator is needed in order to dispense soft ice cream into the cup, which the operator holds. Since it is manually operated, the amount of soft ice cream being dispensed is inaccurate. At the same time, the soft ice cream dispensing process is also inefficient because the operator only estimates the time interval. This process can be improved by automating the soft ice cream machine, thus the group decided to fabricate a fully automated soft ice cream vending machine. The soft ice cream machine reported in this thesis project accepts coins as the mode of payment. It automatically dispenses the cup into the cup holder and it automatically dispenses soft ice cream into the cup. To fulfill these tasks, pneumatics, microcontrollers, and other control devices were used. Various experiments were conducted in order to determine if the objectives of the thesis were met. The group made the necessary adjustments until the desired output was obtained. The fabricated soft ice cream vending machine is capable of dispensing accurate outputs. The soft ice cream dispensing process is efficient because the time interval of each process is constant. At the same time, it lessens the operating expense because it can operate on its own. The group is convinced that this machine has a potential commercial value in the growing soft ice cream industry in the Philippines.