The DesiGators began their liaison meeting with lots on the agenda and the coffee to get through it. The brew of the day was a delicious, Yemeni roast with chocolate undertones (as seen above).

Dr. MacIntosh took the reins for the preliminary portion of the meeting to help clarify questions the team had regarding his lectures on drying and the desiccation process. He helped explain to the team how all the variables were calculated as well as the scientific reasoning behind those calculations. This discussion proved immensely helpful to the team and helped them overcome some obstacles they had encountered while developing an Excel calculator to model the thermodynamic properties of their system.

With a firm background now established, the team shifted to going over the lists of potential humidity sensors, flow meters, and various other parts/materials they had put together throughout the week with Dr. MacIntosh. Together, the team was able to identify some sensors that could potentially be used in the system and piecing ideas together for how they could all be incorporated into one unit. The DesiGators eventually decided to pursue a system built around the Raspberry Pi interface and made the decision to begin purchasing some of the sensor elements to begin preliminary experimentation.

The team closed out the meeting by showing their developed list of requirements and specifications to Dr. MacIntosh. He offered his input on what needed to be changed as well as additional requirements that he would like to see added to the system.

The DesiGator’s have made tremendous progress this week and will make even more tomorrow at the White Belt Six Sigma event hosted by Florida Power and Light. Stay tuned for an update for how the event went and more information on the team’s progress!

The name of the game this week for the DesiGators was napkin drawings! This week the DesiGators ramped up their conceptualization efforts and focused on making even more potential designs for their food desiccation system. The team worked through dozens of combinations of shapes, sizes, and potentially deadly designs for the system in an effort to leave no stone uncovered.

On a more technical note, the team began researching instrumentation and materials that may be needed in the build. A thorough discussion regarding the merits of stainless steel versus acrylic for the frame of the design led to an examination of the thermal conductivity of various materials. Heating elements, fans, and hygrometers were among the many instruments researched for the purpose of determining baselines for the accuracy and precision of commercially available measuring tools. The team used their new knowledge of industry-standard documentation to develop a sheet of requirements and specifications that will eventually be used to judge the success of the project.

The culmination of the week was once again the liaison meeting with Dr. MacIntosh. The DesiGators used the meeting as an opportunity to have Dr. MacIntosh review their napkin drawings and discuss pros and cons of each design. The team also narrowed down specifications for the project and established the various use cases for the desiccator in Dr. MacIntosh’s classes. The meeting ended with fresh-brewed coffee and a commitment to review Dr. MacIntosh’s teaching materials for his desiccation lab to better understand how his students learn about the process of drying.

We had our first opportunity to meet with our project liaison, Dr. Andrew J. MacIntosh! We discussed the scope of work, explored the background of the drying process, and talked about how the food desiccator would be used to teach students fundamental concepts of food science. Afterwards, Dr. MacIntosh led us on a tour of the UF Food Science and Human Nutrition Pilot Plant where we saw the current food desiccation set up and had the opportunity to talk to former IPPD students on their work designing an evaporation unit. We ended our meeting by talking with Dr. MacIntosh about areas to focus our background research on in the coming week and began brainstorming ideas for the prototype based on Dr. MacIntosh’s specifications.

The drawing below is our first conceptualization of what the desiccator may look like. Many various iterations of this prototype will be created as the project progresses, but this drawing served as our team’s initial idea of how to implement all the features needed to created a customizable, learning-focused food desiccation system.