In this phase, we focused on designing the structures that connect the 3 pill dispensing cups to the main collection cup. There are 3 curved tubes that connect each pill dispensing cup to the main slide, which leads to the main collection cup. Both the curved tubes and the inclined slide need to fit within the limited vertical space between the dispensing cups and the collection cup.

The main slide was designed first. We had bought PVC trunking (1.8m) which we wanted to use for the slide. We cut a xx cm segment of PVC trunking for the body of the slide and 3D-printed two slide supports with fixed heights to hold the slide in place at a specific inclination angle of 10 degrees. However, the slope of the slide was too gentle, thus the pills could not slide down the slide. Another issue faced was that the pills get stuck along the perpendicular walls of the PVC trunking.

We decided to increase the angle of inclination of the slide from 10 degrees to 20 degrees. At 20 degrees, all 3 types of pills successfully slide down the slide, but the slide no longer fits within the limited vertical space between the dispensing cup and the collection cup. Hence, we finally decided to work with an inclination angle of 15 degrees – this allows the slide to fit within space constraints, while ensuring that all 3 types of pills will completely slide down the slide.

We also decided to 3D-print the body of the slide instead of using the fixed PVC trunking. We designed the body of the slide (in red) such that it had curved walls instead of perpendicular walls, to prevent the pills from getting stuck along the walls while sliding down. We re-designed the 2 slide supports (in purple) with multiple holes and a screw to facilitate height adjustments if necessary as well. We realized that 3D-printing our parts allowed for better customization of our parts for our pill dispenser, rather than working with purchased parts.

After designing the main slide, we designed the 3 curved tubes accordingly. The tubes are curved towards the main slide to ensure that all pills will drop into the slide, and are of different lengths to connect each dispensing cup to their respective positions along the main inclined slide. The curved tubes are also inclined by 15 degrees to ensure that the pills will roll downwards from the dispensing cup into the main slide body.