EsaPac (Bola-Bola)

Abstract
This report is the result of my examination work that will result in a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, at the Royal Institute of Technology located in Stockholm-Kista. The examination work topic is Mekatronik which contains both Mechanical and Electronical Engineering.

The examination work has been done for the Swedish company EsaPac. The owner Esa Mäkinen is the holder of a patent valid for a new type of container which has the form of a sphere. The advantages with this container is that it will drain out 99,99% of its contents, there is always vacuum inside, its low production costs and the container is meant to be produced as a refill container.

The task I was asked to solve was developing a machine that would make it possible to pour a specific measure from the container. The solution was to put the inflatable container under pressure within the hard shell, thereby producing correct measure

I have made an equipment driven by tap water which has a pressure between 4-6 bar. Water is fed into the shell where the EsaPac container is held. The only way for the water to get into the shell is to press out the same amount of the contents. The equipment is run by a microcontroller. You give the amount in millilitres and when you press the start button, a magnetic controlled valve will open and water start flooding into the shell. A flowsensor will tell the microcontroller when the right amount of water has flown into the shell which results in closing of the valve. There are possibilities for calibration included in the software.

The container used is made by the company Sterisol and contains 700 ml. The microcontroller is an Pic 16F874, and the program is written in the program language C

I have also constructed a valve to snap onto the container with the purpose of avoiding air to enter