Milk dispenser for variable fat content

Abstract

This thesis describes the development of a new milk dispenser product that is designed to dispense milk with varying levels of milk fat content. The product contains two tanks of milk, one containing skim and one containing whole. The user can rotate a dial to select which type of milk they want (skim, 1%, 2%, whole) and the product is able to mix the skim and whole milk at the appropriate ratio to dispense the desired type of milk. A prototype was developed that uses two, gallon-size milk jugs, each attached to a flexible tube at the cap interface. The flexible tubes passes through a ratio selection mechanism that the user can rotate to select the desired type of milk. The mechanism compresses the tubes to achieve the appropriate ratio, and finally the tubes pass on through to a dispensing valve. The prototype was tested using clear water in one tank, and colored water in the other to visually observe how well the product mixes. The final prototype was able to mix quite appropriate ratios with sufficient precision in milk fat ratios.