Figure 3: Engineering Design Process
This week, we started the design process for the feeder. Factors that we considered while making this feeder included how it would be mounted to the fish tank, what size would be the most effective, and which mechanism would be the most energy efficient while still be accurate. Our initial design is found below. We decided it would be best to mount the actual feeder with a suction cup and have the motor be put above it so it does not touch the water.
Figure 2: Self Feeder Attachment
A close-up sketch shows the actual mechanism that we decided for the self feeder. The motor will have a rod fixated radially outwarded and connected to the mouth of the feeder. The motor would rotate back and forth, which would push the rod outward, opening the mouth. The motor will be run by an Arduino which would turn on at a specific time everyday. The arduino was not included in he sketch because we are still figuring out how that will be incorporated into the machine.
Figure 1: Self Feeder Brainstorm
We finished purchasing all of our supplies this week as well to ensure that we will be ready to start building next week. As well as building the parts in the sketch, we will also finalize the design for the arduino and how it connects to the machine.