Hey!
So we are finally coming down to the final stretch; the only thing that we have to do for our design project is practice the presentation, which we are going to do tonight at Van Pelt. Yesterday, after first being kicked out of multiple rooms in Van Pelt before finally moving to Hill, we edited and finalized our powerpoint, did some fancy thing to get all nine slides onto one slide, and discussed what additional material we were going to submit with our electronic copy of the presentation. We decided that we are going to submit some of our earlier designs which we did not include in our presentation because there was not enough room for it; we had numerous other designs that we considered and we want whoever is grading to know that we really had to narrow down what was realistic versus what was idealistic or impractical. Also, I had made a 3D diagram of one of our last designs; we took pictures of it and our going to submit them as well. Tonight, we are going to finish making the final 3D model for our presentation; we are going to photograph this as well and include it in our electronic submission. We are also going to submit a link to this blog because we feel it really describes our thought process as well as our different design ideas and component options. Hopefully tomorrow's presentation goes well! We feel that our design is very practical, realistic, and feasible; hopefully we can impress on our TA exactly how we feel about our design!
Wish us luck!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
GOZINTO Diagram
Hey!
Ok, so I finally finished making the GOZINTO diagram again (the first one was unable to be located on my computer after saving it). The diagram shows every component of our pill dispensing device; it also shows any sub-components. The diagram is a good tool to visualize everything that goes into a device. It definitely helped our group see exactly how each component contributed to the device as a whole. The hardest part about making the diagram, besides figuring out how it was going to all fit onto one powerpoint slide, was remembering everything that made up our device; for example, I almost forgot to put the battery and charger on the diagram! I feel like I overlooked these very vital components because I was only focusing on the pill storage and pill dispensing part of the device, which are the main reasons for the device but are completely useless without other components. Here is our diagram (this is not exactly the one being used in our presentation since we edited it further after I emailed it to my group, but it is roughly 98% the same):
Ok, so I finally finished making the GOZINTO diagram again (the first one was unable to be located on my computer after saving it). The diagram shows every component of our pill dispensing device; it also shows any sub-components. The diagram is a good tool to visualize everything that goes into a device. It definitely helped our group see exactly how each component contributed to the device as a whole. The hardest part about making the diagram, besides figuring out how it was going to all fit onto one powerpoint slide, was remembering everything that made up our device; for example, I almost forgot to put the battery and charger on the diagram! I feel like I overlooked these very vital components because I was only focusing on the pill storage and pill dispensing part of the device, which are the main reasons for the device but are completely useless without other components. Here is our diagram (this is not exactly the one being used in our presentation since we edited it further after I emailed it to my group, but it is roughly 98% the same):
Monday, December 7, 2009
Refill Latch Security!!
Hey!
So as I was putting the finishing touches on the GOZINTO diagram, I realized that my group and I overlooked a very small but important component: the latch security on the refill latch! This latch prevents the patient from gaining access to all of the pills, so it needs to be secured and only opened when a pharmacist need to refill the prescription. Again, this shows how minor details can be overlooked when designing something; these minor details can break a design no matter how strong the other design components are. So, to solve this minor but yet important problem, we discussed a security latch that will be operated via a sliding latch and motor; when access is granted via an override password inputted by a pharmacists, the motor will move the latch to the unlock position and the latch will open for the pharmacist.
So as I was putting the finishing touches on the GOZINTO diagram, I realized that my group and I overlooked a very small but important component: the latch security on the refill latch! This latch prevents the patient from gaining access to all of the pills, so it needs to be secured and only opened when a pharmacist need to refill the prescription. Again, this shows how minor details can be overlooked when designing something; these minor details can break a design no matter how strong the other design components are. So, to solve this minor but yet important problem, we discussed a security latch that will be operated via a sliding latch and motor; when access is granted via an override password inputted by a pharmacists, the motor will move the latch to the unlock position and the latch will open for the pharmacist.
Pill Release and Power Cord Storage
Hey!
Also during our meeting on Saturday, we finally decided on an internal pill release mechanism which dispenses the pill into the area where the patient can retrieve it. The pill release mechanism has really evolved over the past couple of weeks; it started out being the same type of release mechanism in a simple gum ball machine to one in which we make sure that our pills are not going to be crushed during the release. I will try to explain this mechanism in a very easy way. The release systems as 3 main parts: the pill holder, the height adjust, and the hold-release lever system (yes, we sort of coined this term for this particular component of the the pill release).
Pill holder: the pill holder is a U-shaped compartment where 1 pill constantly sits waiting to be release to the user.
Height adjust: the height adjust component of the pill release mechanism adjusts the height of the pill holder based on the pill size; if the pill is smaller, the height adjust raises the pill holder closer to the storage area of the pills. If the pill is larger, then the height adjust lowers the pill holder relative to the pill storage area. This ensures that only one pill is in the pill holder at one time; this ensure that only the programmed number of pills is dispensed by the device in order to prevent an overdose.
Hold-release lever system: when a pill is requested, the hold-release lever first cuts off the rest of the pills from being able to enter the pill holder and then allows the pill already in the pill holder to fall to the pill retrieve area to be retrieved by the patient. The hold level moves horizontally from right to left to cover the top part of the U-shaped pill holder; it also slightly vibrates up and down to create room between the remaining pills and the one sitting in the pill holder. The release level moves horizontally from left to right to, in a sense, cut off the bottom of the U-shaped pill holder; gravity will cause the pill in the holder to fall to pill retrieval area.
The entire pill release mechanism is going to be programmed using a small motor; it will receive its power from the build-in battery.
Power Cord Storage
On Thursday, Taylor brought up the idea that we should store the power / battery charging cord in the device; by storing the cord, the patient would not have to worry about leaving it somewhere while leaving the house or misplacing it. Since we had to increase the size of our device so that way up to 400 larger sized pills could be stored in the device at a time, we decided that we did have enough room for the cord storage. As I mentioned earlier, as we come down to these last modifications on our device, we are starting to make final adjustments to make it as realistic and practical possible and as simple to use for the patient as possible. We feel that making sure the power / charging cord does not leave the device will take unnecessary stress away from an already suffering patient; we want to design a device that will be of help to the patient, not add pressure and be a burden to him or her.
That is all for now! More to come soon!
Also during our meeting on Saturday, we finally decided on an internal pill release mechanism which dispenses the pill into the area where the patient can retrieve it. The pill release mechanism has really evolved over the past couple of weeks; it started out being the same type of release mechanism in a simple gum ball machine to one in which we make sure that our pills are not going to be crushed during the release. I will try to explain this mechanism in a very easy way. The release systems as 3 main parts: the pill holder, the height adjust, and the hold-release lever system (yes, we sort of coined this term for this particular component of the the pill release).
Pill holder: the pill holder is a U-shaped compartment where 1 pill constantly sits waiting to be release to the user.
Height adjust: the height adjust component of the pill release mechanism adjusts the height of the pill holder based on the pill size; if the pill is smaller, the height adjust raises the pill holder closer to the storage area of the pills. If the pill is larger, then the height adjust lowers the pill holder relative to the pill storage area. This ensures that only one pill is in the pill holder at one time; this ensure that only the programmed number of pills is dispensed by the device in order to prevent an overdose.
Hold-release lever system: when a pill is requested, the hold-release lever first cuts off the rest of the pills from being able to enter the pill holder and then allows the pill already in the pill holder to fall to the pill retrieve area to be retrieved by the patient. The hold level moves horizontally from right to left to cover the top part of the U-shaped pill holder; it also slightly vibrates up and down to create room between the remaining pills and the one sitting in the pill holder. The release level moves horizontally from left to right to, in a sense, cut off the bottom of the U-shaped pill holder; gravity will cause the pill in the holder to fall to pill retrieval area.
The entire pill release mechanism is going to be programmed using a small motor; it will receive its power from the build-in battery.
Power Cord Storage
On Thursday, Taylor brought up the idea that we should store the power / battery charging cord in the device; by storing the cord, the patient would not have to worry about leaving it somewhere while leaving the house or misplacing it. Since we had to increase the size of our device so that way up to 400 larger sized pills could be stored in the device at a time, we decided that we did have enough room for the cord storage. As I mentioned earlier, as we come down to these last modifications on our device, we are starting to make final adjustments to make it as realistic and practical possible and as simple to use for the patient as possible. We feel that making sure the power / charging cord does not leave the device will take unnecessary stress away from an already suffering patient; we want to design a device that will be of help to the patient, not add pressure and be a burden to him or her.
That is all for now! More to come soon!
Override Password
Hey!
So at our meeting on Saturday (the day that it also snowed for the first time this season!), we discussed how our fingerprint security system would be impractical for refilling the device; the same pharmacist would not always be refilling the prescription for the patient. For this reason, we decided to include an override password for our device; this password would only be known by the pharmacy who refills the patient's prescription and would be created by the pharmacy during the first time that the prescription is filled. We decided to include this change in our design to make more practical and realistic for use; we want to design a device that actually can be something real patients can use, not simply an idealistic design that only exists on paper.
As we continue to make final adjustments to our design and tweak the specifications, we are starting to see how little details can make or break a design. We are happy that we are being very realistic about the device (instead of idealistic) because that is the goal of this project; we want to design a device that actually can be manufactured and made to improve the lives of people.
So at our meeting on Saturday (the day that it also snowed for the first time this season!), we discussed how our fingerprint security system would be impractical for refilling the device; the same pharmacist would not always be refilling the prescription for the patient. For this reason, we decided to include an override password for our device; this password would only be known by the pharmacy who refills the patient's prescription and would be created by the pharmacy during the first time that the prescription is filled. We decided to include this change in our design to make more practical and realistic for use; we want to design a device that actually can be something real patients can use, not simply an idealistic design that only exists on paper.
As we continue to make final adjustments to our design and tweak the specifications, we are starting to see how little details can make or break a design. We are happy that we are being very realistic about the device (instead of idealistic) because that is the goal of this project; we want to design a device that actually can be manufactured and made to improve the lives of people.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Posted Designs
Below are our main designs that show the progression of our device. We have other designs that show just specific parts, or are without specifications, so we chose not to include them here.
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