This Arduino-Based Machine Automatically Fills 10 Bottles with Fluid
YouTuber Easy HomeMade Projects' machine can impressively fill 10 bottles in less than a minute.
One of the many great things about microcontrollers, and the development boards that utilize them, is how easily they can be used to create industrial-style automated systems. In actual industrial settings, PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) are usually the standard for automated systems. But you can accomplish many of the same things using a cheap Arduino development board. If you need some proof, check out Easy HomeMade Projects’ Arduino-controlled machine that automatically fills 10 bottles with fluid.
There are a couple of reasons why this device wouldn’t actually be suitable for industrial beverage bottling, the most important of them being sanitation. But this is still a really interesting demonstration of what can be achieved with inexpensive and readily-available off-the-shelf electronic components. Even the most basic industrial automatic bottling machines cost thousands of dollars, but this DIY model can be made for well under a hundred dollars to build. Despite that low cost, the machine is capable of automatically filling up to 10 bottles very quickly from a large central reservoir. We’re not sure it has any real practical purpose, but it is really cool to see in action.
Everything is controlled by an Arduino Uno through a custom shield that was developed specifically for this project. That shield contains voltage regulators as well as a driver for the stepper motor that turns spins the bottle carousel. That carousel holds the bottles in place with a 3D-printed frame. Fluid is dispensed from a large reservoir through a simple water pump, which is controlled by the Arduino via a relay. An infrared sensor is used to detect an overhead bottle to ensure that the pump nozzle is directly above a bottle and to keep it from dispensing if a bottle is missing. Status information about the currently bottle filling job is displayed on a small 20x4 character LCD screen. The machine is capable of filling all 10 bottles in less than a minute, which is pretty impressive.