Automatic Medical Dispenser Progress

2021-2022

Over 55% of seniors do not properly take their medications. Studies indicate up to 30% of all hospital readmissions are due to medication non-adherence. Non-adherence is estimated to cause approximately 125,000 deaths, and around 7,000 to 9,000 people die each year due to medication errors in the US alone. Medicine dispensers make the process of taking medication much easier and safer for these people. There are many different medical dispensers on the market, many of them just have an alarm clock on it and containers with pills, which some people may struggle to open. The ones that are nearly fully automatic are often very costly and not affordable to many people, the cheapest option being around $100.

This project is done to research a design for a medical dispenser that is simple to use. This project is focused on designing and building a nearly, fully automatic medical dispenser machine, that can hold multiple doses of pills, is easy to use, and isn’t too costly.

This research project is based on the automatic medical dispenser made by "janw" https://www.instructables.com/The-Automatic-Medication-Dispencer/

Progress Over Time

Engineering Drawings

Pill Wheel Sketch

Pill wheel and how the front slide in panel works.

Dispenser Sketch

Medical Dispenser and basic idea what walls and parts are made out of clear or black acrylic

Medical Dispenser Model

Medical Dispenser Assembly Model

Pill Wheel

Pill Wheel Outer Casing

Pill wheel back panel. pill wheel front cover, and pill wheel outer casing tube

Pill Wheel Inner Parts

Pill wheel inside disc and pill wheel inside walls

Laser Cutter Layout

Outer Parts

Side walls, back wall and top cover

Inner Parts

Bottom cover, inside back wall, inside front wall, front angled piece

Pill Wheel Parts

Pill wheel back panel, pill wheel front cover, pill wheel inside disc, and pill wheel inside walls

Cardboard Model

Pill Wheel

Found that the inner parts of the pill wheel have to be made smaller to fit in the tube

Medical Dispenser

Found that the inside walls have to be raised and moved closer together

Laser Cutter Layout Revision

Outer Parts

Kept the same

Inner Parts

Inside back wall was made taller

Pill Wheel Parts

Pill wheel inner part was made smaller by .25in, and pill wheel wall was made smaller by .125 in.

Wood Model

Pill Wheel

Inside disc and inner walls are smaller

Medical Dispenser

Inside back wall is taller and inside front wall is raised and the walls were moved closer together

Pill Wheel Outer Casing Adjustment

Found that when the acrylic tube is cut, it's diameter shrinks, making less room inside. Resolved the problem by leaving a small border around the hole.`

Modified Dispenser Model

Increased the height to 5.250 inches, width to 6.000 inches, and length to 13 inches

Motor 1

Originally wanted to use this type of motor as it was the motor that seemed identical to the one used by janw in his dispenser, but realized that it wouldn't work for this project since it was inaccurate and wouldn't be strong enough to spin the pill wheel.

Pill Wheel Motor Holder/Mounting For Motor 2

Motor 2

Thought to use a servo motor instead of the regular one, but later realized that it would become uncalibrated quickly since it wasn't as precise.

Motor Model

Mounting Drawing

The mounting would come up to right below the side extrusions on the motor, and the motor would be glued into place.

Mounting Model

The mounting would come up to right below the side extrusions on the motor, and the motor would be glued into place.

Pill Wheel Test

Pill Wheel Motor Test 1

Tested whether the motor is strong enough to spin the pill wheel, and if it would be able to spin the pill wheel in the way it is needed for the project.

Motor 3

While the second motor would work for this project, this model, which is a stepper motor, would work better since eventually the second motor would become inaccurate pretty fast.

Motor 3 Mounting Model

Model of the mounting. The motor would slide in.

Motor 3 Mounting

Model of the mounting.

Edited Motor 3 Mounting Model

When tested realized that the wiring on the back of the motor interfered with the mounting, so I lowered the back piece.

Edited Motor 3 Mounting

Model of the edited mounting.

Laser Cutter

Medical Dispensor Parts for Laser Cutter

All of the Parts that need to be Laser cut.

Clear Acrylic Parts for Laser Cutter

Parts to be cut out of clear acrylic.

Black Acrylic for Laser Cutter

Parts to be cut out of black acrylic.

Modified Model

Since I modified some of the sizes of the dispenser parts, I cut the parts out of 1/8" wood first to make sure everything still fit.

Final Model

After making sure everything fit in the wood model, the final model of the dispenser was cut out of 1/8" acrylic

3D Printer Parts

Since the Pill Wheel has to be duplicated at least 5 times, came to the decision to 3D print the parts for it instead to decrease production time because the original pill wheel design consists of many small pieces that would take too much time to be individually glued and pieced together.

3D Pill Wheel Outer Casing

3D model to 3D print

3D Pill Wheel Inner Compartments

3D model to 3D print

First 3D Print Outer Case

The hole which the motor was supposed to go through to attach to the inner part was too small and too tight of a fit. The hooks that hold the front panel were also too close to the side and the panel didn't fit.

First 3D Print Inner Compartments

The Hole where the motor was supposed to attach was too small and it didn't fit. The compartment walls were also too high and rose above the wall of the outer case, not leaving room for the slide in front panel.

Second and Final 3D Print Outer Case

Edited the Hole size and the space between the hooks.

Second and Final 3D Print Inner Compartment

Edited the hole size and the height of the compartment walls.

Full Pill Wheel

Assembled Pill Wheel

Full Pill Wheel

Assembled Pill Wheel With Motor

Electrical Parts

Hidden Electrical Parts

Connect to the motors, and to the display panel.

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