Hi everyone,
I'm trying to automate my liquid soap making process, so i am making an arduino controlled machine that will dispense the ingredients, stir, cook the soap. The machine will make 10 liters at a time, and cook the soap.
My question is on the dispensing part. Initially, my plan is to use a load cell to measure the weight as the ingredients are being dispensed. but then i realized that there is a lot of physical issues with this design because, the heat has to be applied to the bottom of the pot, and at the same time, the load cell is also located at the bottom. So how do I cook it without burning the load cell parts. then there is the vibration from the motor mixer that may in time affect the load cell somehow (I'm not sure how yet). I've been thinking a lot about this, and come to the realization that there is maybe no good way to do it.
So now I have to decide.. can I get rid of the load cell, and just rely on timing the switching of motors?i.e. turning it on x seconds will pump a fixed amount of liquid. The questions I have going this route are:
- will the viscosity of the oils affect the amount of liquid dispensed enough that it screws up my formula? (I'm using a 12V 300 watt power supply)
- I plan on storing the source container for the oils in home depot paint buckets.. will the level from the pressure in the source container also affect the amount of liquid dispensed per x seconds of time? (like will the flow pressure be different when the source container is full vs if it's low?
I think that I may be overthinking. perhaps it doesn't matter for my application. But if anyone here has had any experience, of has thoughts on what I'm trying to accomplish, please share.