City University of Hong Kong
Final Year Project 2003/04
Product design - Automatic Scrambled Egg Machine
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Aim &
objectives
Acknowledgement
When doing the final year project, I had many difficulties in not only planning, but also producing and reporting. When I had difficulties, many people helped me so much so that I could finish my final year project on time and sure that the project went in a correct way. Now, I want to thanks for their helps.
The first one I want to say thank you to is Dr. CHEUNG, Hong Man, Edmund who is my final year project supervisor. When I find him, I always have clear ideas on designing my project. He gives me advices about the product I design for my final year project and let me know what I could afford. I believe I cannot finish the project if I do the previous idea. Also, he is kind to remind me about the time management, which is the weakest thing that I need to improve. When doing the final year project, I spend much time on planning and designing. However, I have to spend time on testing and trying. I missed this possibility and always think that I can finish in the first time. Luckily, Dr. Cheung reminded me that I had to start as possible. Later, I really face problems! If I have not give some time for solving problems, I will not finish it or do it better. And the things I thank him most is that he always think of his students. He decided to see the demonstration in the hall so that I do not need to worry about transportation and can concentrate on the project. Also, although he is busy every time I find him, he still will spend some time on talking with me and giving me some ideas on what is important.
The other people are my friends, Terry and Ronald. As I have to do my final year project in hurry. I had to do it at night to have more time. And they let me to do the project in their room so that I have more space for store the product. Also, they never say something bad to me. They always encourage me to do my project better.
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Motivation
There are several reasons why I want to do the scrambled egg machine as my final year project:
a) It is complex.
Once we see this title, many people will think that it is simple and adolescent. Even will think that it is only a toy!!! It does not relate to electricity very much causes it is not professional. However, it is wrong. There is no doubt that its mechanism is simple. They need to have accurate calculation, heated material, attractive outlook, and their cleaning problem. Otherwise, they cannot success to cook, have long life, attract people to watch and give confidence to customers.
b) It is good for our next generation.
When I was young, I liked to go to look at some automation machines . In my opinion, they are funny. And I know that many children will have same feeling with me – they are strange. How can they do this? However, it is not just as simple as “funny”. They had many benefits to the children. They can help them to learn more about mechanism and physical theory. As well as increase their creativities and observations.
c) Combination of sculpture and science
From long time ago, science and sculpture always seems to be two extremely different things. Science is not attractive and sculpture is useless. Therefore, I try to combine them as a new item. This rolling ball sculpture included many theories inside and it is useful after producing it.
Background
about rolling ball sculpture
Nowadays, there are many rolling ball sculptures. There are many kinds of functions, sizes and materials. In the table.1, there are some of the examples that are better than the others.
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Function: Sculpture (None) Sizes: Very big Material: Stainless steel Specialized: a) The biggest rolling ball system in the world. b) Can play simple music.
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Function: Can play simple music Sizes: Medium Material: Stainless steel, simple music instruments Specialized: a) Can play simple music. b) Simple and small.
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Function: Show the time [10] Sizes: Small Material: medium Specialized: a) It is for sales. b) The rolling ball system is just for showing the time, but not calculating the time.
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Function: Sculpture (None) [9] Sizes: Big Material: Stainless steel, motor Specialized: a) Use motor transport the ball. b) Use mechanism to move the ball in two different ways. c) One of a part has rotated action.
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From the above information, I can conclude that:
a) The rolling ball systems do not have specific functions.
b) The sizes are big.
c) The material is mainly stainless steel.
d) They all have accurate calculation.
It is required to produce a scrambled egg machine as the final year project. For the machine, there are several things that should be done:
a) All process should be automated.
As the topic of the project is Automatic scrambled egg machine. Its main characteristic is automation which is no relation with human in the cooking process. So the most important thing is to do all the process by itself except starting the machine.
b) The mechanism should relate to rolling ball system.
When choosing this title as my final year project, I decide to combine the sculpture and science together. Therefore, I choose the scrambled egg as the science part and the rolling ball system as the sculpture part. And the requirement I want to point out is that rolling ball system must be used as the main signal of all the action. The movement is done only by the energy change of the ball. One exception is the heater as the high temperature should be got by electricity.
c) The machine can scramble egg.
There is no doubt that this is the minimum requirement for this project. It cannot be accept that only the ball rolling on the track and nothing have done. If it is fail to scramble egg, it cannot achieve the requirement.
d) It must be safe.
This is the point I need to concern more. As this machine have relation with electricity, heavy object and children. I have the responsibility to make sure short-circuit will not exist and the rolling ball are well bounded that will not hurt the children.
When doing the project, I should focus on:
a) Design with accurate calculation
As this project is huge and a large size of product will be produced, the data and dimensions must be accurate to prevent error. Also, it is better to have second design so that if the first design is not suitable to use, there is another possibilities instead of redesigning at that time. So, before start, it is better to have accurate calculation.
b) Everything component have reasonable information
I have mentioned before that it is better to have second design to prevent the useless of the first design. This is caused by wrong or insufficient information. Once the design is finished, better component of material should be chose so that the part of the design is sure to be used successfully. Therefore, when choosing material or tool, I should get enough information for preparation and have reasons of why I choose that items.
c) Apply what have learnt
In the past three year’s time, I have learnt much knowledge about manufacturing. And this is the chance of applying all those knowledge to finish this project. Therefore, when doing the project, many theories and concept should be well shown that is reasonable and supported by what I have learnt.
d) Keep all the things in good management
It is hard to work individually to product the machine in half year time. However, if the time management is good and all the things are under control, the product can still finish before deadline. Therefore, management should be done well in this project.
e) Control the budget
It is important to control the budget as it is a big problem if the money is not enough to buy things for production. Also, it is also a requirement of being a good engineer.
Produced by
WAN Ho Ting 50318419
LEUNG Yu Ching 50340205
Last update: 19th April, 2004