Abstract
This paper aims to explore a new way to improve the speed and convenience of 3D printing in the food domain. With current state of the arts technology being restricted to small volume cartridges and focusing on precise designs, the exploration of faster and more convenient 3D food printing caters to the masses - specifically elderly with ingestion issues. This precise volumetric extrusion of liquid food ink is favourable in controlling the food intake that suits the elderly intake requirements.
The exploration of this improvement extends to utilising a peristaltic pump that will continuously displace food ink till depletion. The control of the pump allows various speed and the convenience comes about with the closed loop system implemented onto the peristaltic pump that would allow the pump to regulate at a desired flow rate within its buffer region. This allows a constant flow with a tolerable allowance.
3 different food inks of different viscosity and flow rate is tested with the peristaltic pump to achieve the closed loop system. The food inks will be tested thrice and the final result will be taken from the average of all 3 experiments. To further reduce the noise, moving average filter will be applied to the results to capture a smoother feedback result.