Ideation & Concepts Development

Brainstorming: Started with outline sketches then moved towards a full colored marker rendering to communicate that the designer and client were on the same page.

Concept Sketches:  Various types of dispensing mechanisms were presented, but went with a design similar to that of a toothpick dispenser.

Design Process

Visual Design: The color of the final product mattered greatly to the design cues of the Zbiotics brand, so it was decided to go with a sleek black 3D printing filament that would convey a minimalist style that the brand holds.

Design System: Through the slicing software of the Prusa MK4 3D printer the program was able to create a subtle hexagonal pattern that complimented the sleekness of the helix backbones.  

Prototyping & Testing 

Prototype Development: With the use of the 3D printer, sectional test prints were able to be made and designated tests could be conducted without having to print the entire model, saving time and cost.

Iteration: The design was refined based on testing outcomes.  Some major refinements were the slope of the ramp in the dispenser.  The tolerance kept changing to support only one bottle slipping out, while also having it come out smoothly and efficiently.  Another iteration that had to be developed were extension pieces, these doubled the amount of bottles that product could hold.  While this allowed for more bottles to be stored, the overall structure of the dispenser had to be addressed, hence a supporting bar was added to the top of the dispenser to keep all the parts together and stable.

Final Product

CAD Model:

Final Product Pictures:

Conclusions

Project Summary: Overall the Zbiotics bottle dispenser is a huge draw in for the company, with its sleek, appealing design and dispensing mechanism it provides a valuable asset to the company’s advertising campaign.

Future Improvements: For further iterations the main component that can be improved is the slope of the dispensing ramp.  In this final version there were still some problems with each bottle dispensing perfectly out each time.  Depending on the temperature of where the dispenser is, the plastic filament will tend to stick to the bottles more which increases the friction between the two surfaces also affecting the flow of the dispensing bottles.