On-demand liquid dispensing system with code verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for preparing on-demand liquid products lack adequate security against unauthorized use, fail to ensure chemical compatibility, and do not prevent overdosing or underdosing, leading to potential contamination and safety risks.
Innovation Solution
A system with multiple housings for tanks, dedicated withdrawal ducts with sensors and valves connected to a control unit, which reads identification codes and manages fluid flow to ensure authorized mixing and dispensing, using a database to verify compatibility and control the dispensing process, including the use of unique identification codes for tanks, containers, and users, and a method for sequential or simultaneous dispensing of components with precise quantity control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If identification codes are read and verified against a database to ensure authorized use and chemical compatibility, then security and safety are improved, but device complexity increases due to readers, control units, and database management
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary verification of identification codes and chemical compatibility checks before dispensing occurs. The control unit reads codes from tanks and containers, verifies them against stored compatibility data, and only then activates the dispensing process, preventing unauthorized or incompatible mixing in advance
Solution Approach 2:
A control unit acts as an intermediary between the identification code readers, the database, and the dispensing mechanism. It processes code verification, determines compatibility, and controls valve activation, centralizing the complex verification logic in a dedicated control component
2Manufacturing precision
If dedicated withdrawal ducts with sensors and valves are provided for each tank, then manufacturing precision and chemical compatibility are improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the dispensing apparatus into separate dedicated withdrawal ducts for each tank, with individual sensors and valves. This segmentation ensures that chemically incompatible substances cannot mix through shared pathways, with each duct serving a specific tank and destination
Solution Approach 2:
Each withdrawal duct is equipped with local sensing and control components (presence sensors, solenoid valves) specific to its associated tank. This localized arrangement allows precise control over which tank connects to which destination, ensuring chemical compatibility at each connection point
3Reliability
If unique identification codes are associated with each tank, container, and user, then security against unauthorized use is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to code reading and verification requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic identification code reading and verification without requiring manual intervention. Sensors automatically detect codes on tanks and containers, the control unit retrieves corresponding data from the database, and compatibility verification occurs automatically, reducing the operational burden on users
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention refers to a system for the safe preparation of packages of liquid products on demand, said system being intended to dose and dispense a predetermined quantity of a liquid product from one or more tanks into a container. In order to make the system safer and more reliable both against counterfeiting and against improper use, each tank of product to be dispensed is provided with a unique identification code which is disabled upon assembly in the system. It is also possible to provide a unique identification code of the containers in which the product must be dispensed and/or unique identification codes of the users who require a specific product. Dispensing takes place through separate ducts for each type of different component of the product to be dispensed. The process includes checks on the compatibility of the tanks and containers and/or users as well as on the composition and authorization for use by users.