Team Members & Role:

• Tyler Seatter
• Jon Aubin
• Colin Whippen
• Gil Seo

Abstract:
Professor Krish Sharmin & GTA Paul Hirish
Plastics are used extensively in most household devices. But, in recent years, it has been found that plastics used in the food industry can leach chemicals into food and drink, such as BPA, which may cause negative health consequences. Despite this, most automated commercial coffee makers still rely heavily on plastics as their main material, because they are cheaper and easier to manufacture and fabricate than alloys. In order to protect the health of consumers Pioneer Valley Coffee Co. (PVCC) has started developing a drip-style coffee maker that uses minimal to no plastics or polymers in components that contact water or brewed coffee, such as the reservoir tank or piping. In the spring of 2022, PVCC sponsored team 1504 to expand upon the research and development done by two previous teams to develop the heating and fluid control systems for their coffee maker and, if possible, finish the design and fabrication of their desired drip style coffee maker prototype. Throughout the semester, team 1504, in close partnership with team 1503, designed all required components for both the heating and fluid control system. We also designed the rest of the coffee maker, which puts our components in context. We finally fabricated the entire coffee maker out of 304 stainless steel, which is both food safe and proposition 65 compliant, and thereby meets our sponsor’s requirements.