I have a large robot with a ice tea dispenser I crated. It basically just has a water container like this one Robot or human? and I have a servo that pushes the lever down with a cup below it. I would like to upgrade this system. I am looking to get a food safe liquid pump that I can use to dispense the ice tea instead of using the servo. Can anyone recommend a pump that would work well for this? I checked on amazon but many have low flow rates and poor reviews. I am looking for something < $60
Right. With a peristaltic pump the fluid only touches the tubing.
For commercial use, you'd probably have to make sure the tubing is approved for food use (FDA approved in the U.S.) but for personal use any clean tubing should do.
Thanks guys for the responses, besides the price on the sparkfun item I think something like that would be good, the flow rate seems to be fast enough to fill a 8 oz cup in around 30 seconds. Is there something like that but cheaper? I don't need precision, I have a scale in place to detect when the cup is filled.
Remember gravity always wins. Why not use a solenoid operated valve and eliiminate the valve on the tank and just have it pass the liquid to the tubing and put the valve on the tubing. I think this may be the method that has the fewest moving parts and the cheapest.
wwbrown:
Remember gravity always wins. Why not use a solenoid operated valve and eliiminate the valve on the tank and just have it pass the liquid to the tubing and put the valve on the tubing. I think this may be the method that has the fewest moving parts and the cheapest.
Thank you, That is a good idea and I may end up doing that. Ideally I am hoping for a solution that will allow for the ice tea to be dispensed at a higher level than it is stored.