Initial Testing and Literature Review

A meeting of all members resulted in the testing of a rotating piece of a dough. With a dense piece of dough on a skewer that was attached to a hand drill, we decided to see if rotation would have any dramatic effects on baking. After an amount of time passed for the baking process to occur, we noted that a successful crust was produced on all exposed surfaces and the dough was deemed edible by all members of the group. 

Alleviating that initial concern, we moved on to perform a literature review in which we divided into three sections:

Patent Search: Andrea Weiss and Dan Mullins 

Journal Search: Brendan Huss and Tom Kesling

Internet Search: Brian Huynh

Searching ideas for a holding mechanism, we stumbled upon the aerotrim, a gyroscope like device that spins with three rings. We believe a similar design will allow for enough degrees of rotation while hold the bread steady in the middle with minimal contact. 

The meeting concludes noting that the literature review is due on November 20, 2012. 

Project Selection

Today's design review class presented an overview of what the semester would look like with effective due dates for deliverable material: Senior_Design_Milestones

In addition, we note that the project due date will be next week, October 23, 2012. Taking the critique of the review panel into consideration, we have decided that the bread maker, or proposed name Bake³⁶⁰, would be a suitable senior design project. Such a project will provide the necessary challenges throughout the course of a year to produce a quality design and product. 

Beginning concepts of the design aims to produce a bread that is going to have a crust on all sides, thus, no typical container will be used for the holding mechanism such as a cookie sheet or a muffin pan. The proposed idea will aim to rotate the dough such that all sides are exposed to the open air of the oven. 

Of concern at the moment is the usage of a dense dough, as a more liquid type dough can potentially fall off the holding mechanism. The design of the holding mechanism will be key as is the use of any motors or rotating devices subjected to the high temperatures of an oven.