automatic home medication dispenser project # p07009 team guide - dr. daniel phillips project...
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Automatic Home Medication Dispenser
Project # P07009Team Guide - Dr. Daniel Phillips Project Sponsor - Dr. Michel BergTeam MembersAlan Strandburg Chris Abramo Ntongho AminGordon Yeung Nick Columbare Albert Lam
Project Background
• Warfarin is an anticoagulant used for blood clotting medical conditions.
• Dosages of warfarin need to be frequently adjusted to maintain effectiveness.
• For the first few months of the regimen, adjustments are made based on weekly or bi-weekly blood test results. This requires frequent coordination with the physician, patient and pharmacist.
Problem Statement
• Frequent coordination between the physician, patient, and pharmacist is time consuming, inconvenient, and poses a risk to the patient’s health by increasing the chances of error or a missed dose.
• A real-time adaptive system needs to be developed.
Objective / Scope• To create a prototype home medication dispensing device that
will administer a one month course of warfarin. • The device must reliably dispense the medication in correct
dosages with a success rate as close as possible to 100%.• Device must be able to communicate with the physician via a
computer interface and relay patient’s usage information.• Device must be equipped with operating checks and alerts. • Device must be easily refilled by the pharmacist and tamper
evident.• Easy to use and simple user interface.• It was decided that tubes/trays with consistent pill orientation
would be used to increase dispensing accuracy.• A 6 stack design would be used to minimize size and
accommodate varying dosages.• A modular design will minimize manufacturing cost.
Primary Subsystem Focus• Dispensing Mechanism
– Reliable• Must be jam-proof and not cause damage to pills.
– Robust• Must be able to tolerate driving vibrations and be able to operate after being
inverted. • Minimal use of sensitive parts that require frequent calibration.
– Accurate• Must accurately dispense the medication in correct dosages with a success
rate as close as possible to 100%. – Efficient
• Minimal use of moving parts.• Ideally, have the most direct path to solving the problem.
– Cost effective• Uses the least number of motors.• Minimize the misallocation of expensive components to perform minor tasks.
Existing Technologies / Research
– Gumball machine– Vending machine– Coin sorter– Paintball gun hopper– Production bulk bin sorter– Vacuum– Cement truck– Pez dispenser
Concept Selection Process
• Each team member developed concepts individually to meet dispensing design requirements.
• Concepts were shared; team members gave feedback and were evaluated in a screening matrix. The selection criteria were based off of QFD analysis.
• Concepts were refined and optimized to produce a few hybrid designs.
• These designs were evaluated in the Pugh matrix for our concept selection process.
• Our final two designs are pending further refinement and component selection.
Puller Concerns
• Violent solenoid actuation may cause shearing of pills
• Additional time and cost to design custom solenoid
• Additional cost of Soft Shift® solenoids over conventional solenoids and servo-motors.
Six Pack Design Justification
• Smoother pill dispensing• Accurate• Cost effective• Simplified balance of design• Minimal force requirement and in a single plane
Pill Follower
• Helps to maintain pill orientation within tube
• Spring• Ratcheting mechanism• Weighted follower
Alternatives to a Color Screen
• LCD with electro-luminescence backlight• LED indicators• Vacuum fluorescent display