Team Members & Role:

• Jenny Andrews
• Patrick Archibald
• Enzo Croghan
• Sidney Holman
• Kat Pacheco

Abstract:

The main goal of this project is to create an automated system to prepare multi-wick candle jars for wax pouring. Currently, these candle jars are being prepared for pouring manually, with the wicks already glued to the bottom of the candle. There are three main problems with this: worker ergonomics, human error, and a slow throughput. To rectify these issues, an automated process must:

(1)    separate/untangle all the wicks with a Wick Spacing Device (WSD)
(2)    place the Wick Centering Device (WCD) onto the jar
(3)    move the wicks into the channels in the WCD with the Wick Gripping Device (WGD)

We are designing and testing 4 different devices that will work in tandem and integrate with a collaborative robot to achieve these goals. In addition to the three devices described above, end of arm tooling will also be designed. The wick spacing device will force the wicks towards the edge, moving them to the appropriate alignment for the wick centering device. The wick centering device will be placed by the co-bot and the end of arm tooling. After this placement the wick gripping device will move the wicks into the proper channels on the wick centering device. The candle is now ready for wax pouring.

Our team’s spring semester plans involve manufacturing the WSD system and the WGD, then performing multi-step analysis and evaluations of the whole system and making changes to each device accordingly. Once each device has reached its finalized designs, we will process the system throughput and error evaluations.