MIE.02 – Hot/Cold Food Container
Team Members Heading link
- Alexander Damian
- Adam Gorski
- Soud Jaradat
- Matt Murias
- Franck Tchietche Pouokam
- Jacob Tolwinski
Project Description Heading link
The goal of this project was to design a container with a hot and cold side. The container should be able to maintain the appropriate temperatures on both the hot and cold sides. This is a prototype that includes a container, insulation, heating/cooling elements, and a controller with sensors that displays and monitors temperatures if they tend outside of their range. Food stored inside the container should be kept safe for consumption, and the container itself should be easy to use and clean. The first step in the design was figuring out our method for maintaining hot and cold temperatures. We decided to use Peltier Modules which are thermal control modules that use the peltier effect to achieve both cooling and warming effects. From our research into safe food temperatures, we were able to set ambient temperatures at which we would like the hot and cold sides of our container to be kept at. From there, we calculated the rate of heat transfer of our containers by using information like the container dimensions, the material being used, and the thermal conductivity of this material. Additionally, a heat transfer analysis was conducted using ANSYS software. Using the information gained from our calculations and simulations, we were able to match a peltier module with enough thermal load and appropriate temperature difference, along with a necessary voltage source to satisfy our safety conditions. For our temperature sensor, an Arduino UNO was programmed with two thermocouples that were placed in the hot and cold sides of the container. Additionally, two LCD displays are wired to the circuit and attached to the container displaying the temperatures on each side. Altogether, this project is quite exciting as there aren’t many commercial food containers that contain both heating and cooling properties. In this case, our container will be very useful, especially for food businesses such as catering that may need to store both hot and cold foods on the go.