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Product Description
The Semi-Automated Seeding Machine can seed a wide range of seeds from 2mm to 15mm using blunt tip needles and suction pressure. The device uses FDA approved food safe materials and is built for modulatory and reliability.
To operate the device, insert a soil aggregate tray into the device and select the desired number of seeds per pod. The upper carriage of the device will then calibrate its position using 4 limit switches and activate suction pressure to the seeding head using controlled by a solenoid valve. Once the row of 8 blunt needles have picked up seeds from the seed container, a servo rotates 250° to hover above the tray where the solenoid valve with disengage suctions pressure and allow the seeds to fall into their respective pods. A timing belt will then move the carriage 31.75 mm to the next row and repeat the process.
My Experience
The Semi-Automated Seeding Machine was developed by Lettuce Harvest, a team of myself and 3 other Mechanical Engineering students acting as product development consultants for Dream Harvest Farming Company for our senior design capstone project. The device speeds up the time consuming and labor intensive seeding process in small scale hydroponics farming by reducing seeding time by 60% and seeding operators from 5 to 1. As project team leader, I drove the project scope, schedule, and communication between the team, sponsor, and faculty advisors. I also took an active role in designing 90% of the CAD model, implementing off-the-shelf and rapid prototyped parts using CNC machining, Sheet metal, and 3D Printing to reduce the device's cost, utilizing only $800 of the $10,000 budget. Check out our team's blog updates:
Skills Developed:
BOM Creation & Maintenance
CAD: Autodesk Fusion 360 & SolidWorks
Project Management
Metal Manufacturing (CNC & Sheet Metal)
250+ Part Assembly
Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
Design For Manufacturability (DFM)
Design For Assembly (DFA)
GD&T
My Experience
The Semi-Automated Seeding Machine was developed by Lettuce Harvest, a team of myself and 3 other Mechanical Engineering students acting as product development consultants for Dream Harvest Farming Company for our senior design capstone project. The device speeds up the time consuming and labor intensive seeding process in small scale hydroponics farming by reducing seeding time by 60% and seeding operators from 5 to 1. As project team leader, I drove the project scope, schedule, and communication between the team, sponsor, and faculty advisors. I also took an active role in designing 90% of the CAD model, implementing off-the-shelf and rapid prototyped parts using CNC machining, Sheet metal, and 3D Printing to reduce the device's cost, utilizing only $800 of the $10,000 budget. Check out our team's blog updates:
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of timing belt mounts, resulting in acceptable Factor of Safety
Team 2 Design Review.pdfPage updated
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