About
The design follows a distributed manufacture approach to create a cheaper and more repairable alternative to large costly systems. The 3D printer assembly, allows for a variety of standard pipe fittings and gastronomes to be used as a basis for the device. As a part time Barista I felt the current methods can be troublesome during busy periods, and following the Covid-19 pandemic heightened hygiene procedures would be necessary. I wanted to change this and ensure café can stay open and that customer and staff would feel safe.
Development
Roaster & Barista
As part of the new experience stage of the project, I visited a coffee roaster and small cafe. The owner, marketing manager and roaster showed me the whole process as well as providing some input when talking to the baristas. Understanding the entire process of the cafe, from how supplies are delivered and different ways of reducing plastic waste in their cafe. These include:
- 5kg reusable wholesale bags
- Reusable cups with a discount
- Reusable glass jars for consumables
- Fully recyclable coffee bags for coffee sold over counter
- Coffee husks go to chicken farm for bedding
However nothing was being done regarding milk bottle waste and milk waste, as there aren’t any reasonable solutions. Talking to a barista (Alecia) at an independant cafe, further confirmed most of my knowledge with the added input of adding milk waste. Milk is discarded when baristas steam milk, as they often don’t pour the exact quantity into the jugs.
This is where my project really began, as I saw large quantities of milk bottles being thrown away, concurrent with where I work as a barista. This is what gave me the drive to create a solution to combat this inefficient design.
Hack
After looking into current methods of delivering liquids in bars, restaurants and industry, I bought a used home draft beer dispenser and put milk in one of the disposable kegs. Parade & Albany used this hack to test the viability of having milk on tap, and the type of workflow changes that would occur if implemented. I also had the opportunity to perform a further interview, with some of the other baristas and the owner, which allowed me to look into workflow and deliveries. The hack was successful in showing that it was easy to add such a device, however it was not suitable due to its large size and use of single use plastic kegs. Something had to be made which used a reusable container.
Features
I set myself some specification points, to keep myself focused and on track with the project, as well determining what were the most important requirements, such as speed, to ensure workflow wasn’t disrupted but made better.
- It must dispense 300ml in under 5 seconds accurately and consistently to the nearest 5ml
- It must have a manual dispense mode or easy to access manual dosing
- It could include a jug rinser
- An array of containers must fit within a standard supermarket delivery cate (600 x 400 X 200mm)
- The milk must remain at 5C or below throughout the entire system for 2 hours
- The kegs should be an existing standard, for example from the beer industry to reduce start up and accessibility costs
Service
Reducing in plastic waste is the goal, so reusable containers which can be refilled make sense. They work for the brewing industry among others, so there is a lot of the infrastructure and design there, so it just needs adapting.
I based my system off home brewing kegs available, 4 of which fit within a standard food shipping container which are currently used to deliver milk.
Form
I follow the principle of form follow functions. The device has a clear outcome and therefore assembling the parts that I want to use, allows the most functional device to be produced. This can then be edited and altered to improve the aesthetics and ergonomics.
Interactions
The interactions of the device needed to be simple, easy to operate, but also complex enough to provide enough functionality for the user. The rotary dial, proximity sensor, tolerances between the bought components and the 3D printed parts were important for the functionality of the device.
Coding
Coding was a strong part of this project, which needed to work properly and provide enough functionality, but also be simple enough to ensure good operation of the machine in busy service. Working with all of the different components such as rotary encoders, screens and proximity sensors was a challenge, however the fully working circuit board at the end was a good result, with room for improvement within the device and usability.
Feedback from Baristas
Due to COVID-19 I was unable to return to the two coffee shops that I was working with, however a video call was possible with one of the baristas that I was originally working. The device demonstrated the device and the interactions via a video watched before the video call so she could form her own opinions. This is not an extensive form of testing, however I felt my experience as a barista allowed me to choose the best interactions. I settled on a proximity switch, indicator LED, stepped rotary encoder and an audible click when the device was activated. A video demonstration is available in the sketchbook
Modifications
Following the video call, slight modifications were made to the device to make it more stable and reliable, as well as condensing the electronics so that they would fit within the casing as they would for a manufactured circuit board. This meant that I have produced a fully working prototype, with clean electronics and therefore made it more reliable to do testing and filming with.
Manufacture
The design of the device was made for variation and self assembly. This meant that it was relatively easy to assemble at home and I even managed to solder the copper pipes together on the stove. This is a proof of concept of the requirements; made anywhere by anyone. The board would not be manufactured by the end user, but would be sold as a kit to be assembled with shop bought pipes and fittings.
Hygiene
Hygiene is a very important aspect of the project. Post COVID-19, cafes may be required to improve their hygiene and reduce the amount of contact with both supplies and their customers drinks. The choice for a proximity sensor reduces this even further than the main concept of the project.
Final Renders
As well as physical models, testing and analysis, there was a large portion of time spent on the computer doing CAD work. This was essential to producing the design that was optimised and parametric for different sized gastronorms.
– Analysis
Overall Supply Chain for the Milk Keg Delivery System
Gastronorm
As many of the components within the design are standards starting with the gastronorms. The chosen gastronorms are made from recycled HDPE in Germany [a.i]. The design will fit any brand of gastronorms as they conform to a standard. They are also made from the same material as milk bottles.
Copper components
British made copper pipes and fittings are made [a.ii] and would be encouraged to be used by myself to customers. Because those are also available locally from plumbing stores and the likes of B&Q, it does mean they would be transported in bulk and then distributed locally. They are also made from a fully recyclable material and the fittings can be reused, omitting the crush olive used for the compression fittings.
L A Kelly Design 