Design and Implementation of a Personalized 3D Food Dosing Unit and Food Extruder
10TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing) Technologies and Digital Industry, Trabzon, Türkiye, 3 - 05 Eylül 2026, (Yayınlanmadı)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Yayınlanmadı
- Basıldığı Şehir: Trabzon
- Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
- Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Following the 2009 expiration of additive manufacturing patents, 3D printers became widely accessible. Consequently, the development of multifunctional plastic products and preliminary prototypes gained substantial momentum. During the R&D phase, the mandatory mold production stage for plastic products was eliminated, significantly decreasing costs and expended time. This study presents a dosing and mixing unit intended for personalized food production, alongside a food extruder to enable the printing of customized meals via a 3D printer. Excluding mandatory chassis construction elements, all necessary plastic components were manufactured using 3D printing methods. For printing the prepared food paste, an extruder was designed and integrated into a 3D printer. The dosing and mixing unit operates on two movable axes. Custom reservoirs were fabricated to hold water, protein, fat, starch, and salt or sugar. To ensure the precise dosing of materials from these reservoirs, RC servo-controlled plastic valves were developed. During the dosing procedure, material in the mixing chamber was weighed using a load cell; this data provided active feedback to control the servo valve aperture. For the mixing section, worm gear mechanisms were designed, directly inspired by household cake mixers. The electronic control of the unit was managed utilizing an Arduino MEGA 2560 and a RepRap Arduino Mega Pololu Shield board, commonly utilized in early do-it-yourself 3D printers. This study was successfully realized through 3D printer technology, and this technology has provided significant cost and time savings. As a result of the study, a system capable of dosing and printing personalized meals has emerged.