Here is our video demonstrating the capabilities of our new FSHN device!

One step away from the final delivery! Dream Steam had another exciting milestone this week as we presented our Final Design Review to faculty and industry reviewers, showcasing the full development of our steam blancher system! We supported this with the now available 3D printed components, embedded thermocouples, ANSYS simulations, and testing results that demonstrate strong progress toward meeting project goals. We continued with the tests after this event, which we plan to finish right before FDR. Overall, the feedback was very positive, with reviewers praising our clear organization, strong visuals and well-balanced explanations so we feel confident we will present well next week. As an aside, we have cooked up a fantastic video showcasing the capabilities of our new device. Cheers!

Good morning IPPDers! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this coming week, as we only have a couple more weeks and FDR as the final milestone. In the meantime, we had a busy work week as we had to find time to construct the remaining portions of our blancher and prepare to present to PR FDR. We wrapped up major assembly work on the steam piping, installed additional chamber doors with sealant, fixed leaking water lines, and began wiring the safety circuit, all while refining interior components like the polycarbonate windows (see picture below and be amazed with this beast of a machine). We’re now focused on finishing the chamber doors and safety wiring, conducting TPM testing on the completed system, and finalizing our FDR draft. Everything remains on schedule, and it’s exciting to see the system rapidly come together with no major issues holding us back!

Hello IPPD! This week marked a big accomplishment for Dream Steam with the second PID. We were able to demonstrate a partially built device with one of the chambers done. The judging panel of faculty and industry experts gave us overwhelmingly positive feedback! We were praised for strong presentation skills, a clear and well-developed design, and noticeable improvement since the last review, with some judges even noting how close our prototype feels to a finished product. Along with the encouragement, we got valuable suggestions to make it even better, including running thermocouple characterization tests, improving balance in team speaking time, and boosting thermal efficiency through better insulation. Overall, it was a great experience that gave us both confidence and clear direction as we push forward toward delivering a final product.

Hello IPPD, I hope we are all well rested! This week we returned and made strong progress on both the piping systems and supporting components. We assembled a full test layout of the steam piping system, which helped us better understand the overall configuration and identify areas for improvement. In parallel, we completed the initial assembly of the water piping system using solder (see below), marking an important step toward full system integration. We also fabricated thermocouple connectors and developed FEA simulation animations to showcase our work for PID Day.

Looking ahead, we will focus on fixing several known leaks in the water piping system and continuing assembly of the safety system on the blancher. We also plan to reprint updated test shapes and verify thermocouple fit, refine our FEA simulations using experimental data, and build a mounting tray for the thermocouple reader.

This week was a continuation of the work started last week. Since every team member has a large amount of work for their portion of the project, each of us will be spending time to complete assembly and testing before Spring break hits and we become lazy. On the steam side, some additional orders were completed after discovering some pipe segments were shorter in practice than anticipated. On the chambers’ side, there is a lot of work being done with the doors and the copper pipe attachments on the top. Sebastian is continuing to do great work with how the Ansys will be presented and connected to each lab experiment. Future items we still have to look forward to are the grates inside the chambers (see inside image of chamber below to get an idea of where they will go), flanges for the steam lines, and safety circuit integration. See you after Spring break!

This week was a really exciting step forward as we picked up the steam blancher structure from Ray’s Metal Works. It made the project feel much more real. We started assembling/fitting part of the steam piping on the new structure and got a better sense of how everything fits together. On the systems side, we finalized the safety components and completed the circuit diagram, which was a big milestone. We also finished printing our 3D food replicas and installed thermocouples for upcoming testing.

Next week, we will begin assembling the water piping lines and continue integrating the safety system into the machine. We will also keep making progress on the steam piping and aim to complete initial testing of the 3D printed materials (however, this will use the old machine). Overall, it feels like everything is starting to come together, and we are excited to start building a useful product.

This week, we had the opportunity to present our March testing plans for QRB 2 – best of all, we have been selected as a possible candidate for the Exemplary Award competition! We have plenty of tests that we plan starting in a few weeks. Just yesterday, we also were able to see our table in physical form. Visually, it matched our expectations and it will be worked on next week with our other physical component so that we can start testing the chambers and 3D replicas. Some orders were placed, with some others put on pause until the pickup on Monday as we want to ensure the current parts are compatible in size with our table. It looks like the coming weeks will be filled with work (especially because the Final Design Report is coming before we know it, so we need to lock in!

This week, Dream Steam got to experience an insightful presentation from speaker Zeriah Folston about diversity and inclusion in the things we design. Although it doesn’t apply to our blancher unit specifically (since it is designed for a particular experiment run, and should be inclusive to all students regardless), it will be helpful in our future designs in our future jobs. Also, we were able to see our ordered parts finally come in! Unfortunately, there were some miscommunications with Ray’s leading to more delays with procuring the table. So in the meantime we spent more time accomplishing preparatory tasks, such as 3D printing some cubes we can test with the old steamer and getting more orders done. We are excited to present for QRB2 next week!