Term Paper Draft

Republic of the Philippines
CEBU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

MAIN CAMPUS
M. J. Cuenco Avenue Cor. R. Palma Street, Cebu City, Philippines
Website: http://www.ctu.edu.ph E-mail: coedean@ctu.edu.ph
Phone: +6332 402 4060 loc. 1135
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Against the Plastic Sachets

Crisis:
Design and Fabrication of a shampoo vending machine
MAIN CAMPUS
Phone: +6332 402 4060 loc. 1135
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Shampoo is one of the basic sanitary components in our daily lives where it helps keeps
our hair shiny, presentable, and clear of dirt. Nowadays, shampoo is usually stored in plastic
container or in plastic sachet which are designed to hold the naturally viscous substance. When
the shampoo has ran out in those containers, usually the plastic sachets are just thrown away
and it’d be difficult to recycle them, increasing the plastic waste in our environment each year.
Our product aims to address this environmental issue by exploring the design and
fabrication of a stand-alone vending machine which dispenses shampoo at desired rate and
price, as well as examine its capability as a stand-alone system with a monitoring function to
alert the ones maintaining the device of its current status and do maintenance when necessary.
CHAPTER II
PROBLEM AND SOLUTION
PROBLEM
The generation that we are currently living in right now have been making use of plastics
as a container for various products ever since its inception in 1862 by Alexander Parkes. Plastic
is usually the most used material when containing liquid based products due to its composition
of preventing any leakage of its contents, and with the nature of liquid’s physical appearance
being dependent to whatever material is containing them, making plastics the most effective and
convenient material for storage. However, plastics are not without a negative impact, especially
towards our environment where due to its chemical attributes, it takes too long for it to naturally
decompose and thus contributing to our current crisis of plastic pollution (Wang et al., 2020).
Plastic pollution is an environmental issue that is hazardous to both land and aquatic life
as they are capable of clogging the drainage system in our cities, making them ineffective when
flooding occurs resulting in a state of emergency for the area affected. Aquatic animals are also
at risk of this plastic pollution due to them accidentally mistaking them for food or whatever
circumstances leading them to approach the material which might result to them getting
entangled, or worse, suffocate which then leads to their own demise. In the Philippines, there
are around 164 million plastics sachets used every day, most companies like Unilever and
MAIN CAMPUS
Phone: +6332 402 4060 loc. 1135
Proctor & Gamble have about 50% of their market shares from the sales of their products
contained in plastic sachets, the most notable product of this are shampoos. Single use plastic
sachet products are very popular in Philippines due to their convenience and retail feasibility
that most Filipinos are able to afford, especially those products which are necessary for daily
hygienic needs (Tanaka, 2021).
SOLUTION
With the problem at hand, our idea of a product would be a stand-alone shampoo
vending machine, designed to be able to place on areas densely populated with people buying
shampoos for their hygienic needs like hotels, resorts and certain urban areas. Eliminating the
need of having to buy shampoo products in plastic sachets from the store and thus, reducing the
annual plastic wastes generated in those area and establishments. Customers would only need
to bring their own reusable shampoo container and head over to the vending machine to avail
their shampoo needs depending on the amount they have inserted in the device. The store
owners or business establishments will only need to buy a wholesale shampoo liquid directly
from its manufacturers which will be cheaper in cost compared to buying retail shampoo in
plastic sachet to put up for sale.
INNOVATION
 Product details
The stand-alone shampoo vending machine product will have the following features:
1. Solar powered.
a. The product will come with a dedicated battery, a solar charge controller,
and a solar panel to provide power to all of the machine’s electrical
components. This will make the machine functional without it having
plugged in into an electrical outlet as long as there is enough wattage
provided by the battery.
2. Machine status monitoring system.
a. The product will also have a monitoring system that is able to send alerting
notification of its current status to the store owner or whoever is in charge of
the machine’s maintenance. It will also have a display lcd attached to notify
customers if there is enough shampoo liquid in the machine’s reservoir
before they insert their coins to avail their shampoo needs.
MAIN CAMPUS
Phone: +6332 402 4060 loc. 1135
 Intellectual Property
1. Description of the Invention
Shampoo-vending machine aims to help reduce plastic waste generated by retail
shampoo sachet products by setting up the shampoo-vending machine in urban areas,
as well as in business establishments like resorts and hotels where there are a lot of
consumers since shampoo is always a part of our daily hygienic needs. Our design
concept is derived from the already existing automatic-tubig machine that has been
circulating in the market ever since its inception. The difference and unique aspect of our
design is it being standalone and having a monitoring system for its convenient set up
and checking of the level of shampoo reservoir in the dispenser. The product will have its
own solar-powered generating electricity, sufficient enough to handle the machine’s
electronics for shampoo dispensing, as well as providing the necessary power to keep
the monitoring system be able to send data to the receiver which would be the
maintenance personnel or the manager.
The figure above shows the physical design of our product with its electronic
components. The design makes it easy to install in urban places where space can be
limited. On the front lies the coin slot where the customer can insert their coins and get
their shampoo with respect to the amount they have inserted. On top of it is an LCD
display to indicate whether the dispenser is functional or is out of order and needs
MAIN CAMPUS
Phone: +6332 402 4060 loc. 1135
service. Inside is where we can find the dedicated shampoo container for the device and
its pump to dispense the necessary amount of shampoo, the battery and charge
controller for the solar panel is also placed inside with enough space for the both of them.
2. Novelty of the Invention

In the Philippines, the extensive use and popularity of plastic is very rampant, so
much so that the Philippines is one of the top most contributors of plastic pollution to the
world with more than 5 million metric tons of plastic wastes generated per year. A big 20
percent of this leaks and pollutes the environment, this is due to the poor management of
these plastic wastes as well as the conditions in landfills that leads to environmental
leakages of these garbage (Schachter et al., 2022). When it comes to plastic sachets, the
Philippines is also one of the biggest producers of such wastes, with about 164 million
used every single day in the country. Not only that, major companies in the Philippines
like Unilever and P&G have about 50% of their market shares from selling sachet
products. The people also patronize the use of such plastic sachet products because it is
readily accessible and cheap compared to buying in bulk in the form of bottles (Tanaka,
2021). Vending machines are machines that can easily provide products or services
quickly and efficiently after a transaction. A customer can simply insert currency to it and
then immediately receive the product here and there. The advantage of such vending
machines is also the fact that the product is directly provided hence a heavy packaging
would not be needed already, this allows for customers to fully forget the hassle of
unpacking products therefore packaging can be minimized or fully eliminated (Biglete et
al., 2018). Vending machines can be fully customized to whatever purpose it can serve,
this is important and is the greatest thing about the use of vending machines, it can be
almost anything which implores a multitude of mechanisms that better suit the current
application (Sibanda et al., 2020). Most designs of vending machines that involve the
delivery of a product as a form of fluid usually use a centrifugal pump. But in cases where
the fluid to be pumped has a higher viscosity, other pump options may be needed in
order to successfully carry out the task. This is where a peristaltic pump is used, it allows
for the pumping of high viscosity fluid with ease which is a very efficient and cost-effective
mechanism (Aluma, 2019).
3. Inventive step of the Invention
The vending machine will provide a means of acquiring shampoo for its vendee
MAIN CAMPUS
Phone: +6332 402 4060 loc. 1135
without the need of packaging for the shampoo since it will be dispensed using a
peristaltic pump, which promotes the reusing of other bottles/containers by the vendees
to contain the dispensed shampoo. This machine will be one of the first of its kind which
will imply an efficient means of transaction with the vendee as well as dispense a product
through a system that has not been tried before. Other features and innovations of this
machine will include its own stand-alone capability which allows it to be fully independent
even when situated in a strategic spot outside that does not have a readily available
power connection to power the machine. With it being independent, a monitoring and
notification system will be applied in order to provide the owner of the machine a prior
knowledge on whether it needs repairs/maintenance or does it need to be refilled with
shampoo in its reservoir.
4. Industrial applicability of the Invention
The product is very applicable on resorts and hotels as it can effectively cut the
amount plastic waste they generate every year, the volume of shampoo to dispense is
controlled as it is client dependent in order to lessen the wastage compared to traditional
plastic shampoo sachets where most of the clients won’t be able to fully utilize the
shampoo allocated in the sachet and thus, save costs in providing shampoo as one of
their basic hygienic needs. In populated urban areas, small businesses like a sari-sari or
a convenience store can install the product easily as it is a standalone, solar-powered,
and has a monitoring system in order to check how much level of the reservoir is left
within the shampoo container available for dispensing.
MAIN CAMPUS
Phone: +6332 402 4060 loc. 1135
References
Aluma, I. (2019). IGN & implementation of smart tap system using Raspberry PI (Case
study:
Primary schools) (Doctoral dissertation, Kampala International University, School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) Department of electrical, Telecom and Computer
Engineering).
Biglete, E. R., Landicho Jr, M. M., Quicho, F. R. V., & Sauli, Z. (2018). Design and
fabrication of a prototype automated instant noodle vending machine. Journal of
Telecommunication,
Electronic and Computer Engineering (JTEC), 10(1-15), 75-79.
Schachter, J., & Karasik, R. (2022). Plastic Pollution Policy Country Profile: Philippines. NI
PB,
22-10.
Sibanda, V., Munetsi, L., Mpofu, K., Murena, E., & Trimble, J. (2020). Design of a high-tech
vending machine. Procedia CIRP, 91, 678-683.
Tanaka, J. (2021). Sachets at the bottom of the pyramid: redesigning laundry detergent
sachet
packaging systems for impactful reduction of plastic waste in the Philippines: a thesis
presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at
Massey University, New Zealand (Doctoral dissertation, Massey University).

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Republic of the Philippines

CEBU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Against the Plastic Sachets

2. Novelty of the Invention

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