Automated Dishwasher

Senior Design Proposal submitted to the

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
College of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Cincinnati

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Science

in Mechanical Engineering Technology

by

Patrick Hobing
Avyay Putsherry

October 2020

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Janet Dong

Table of Contents

Problem Statement 3
Research 4
Background of the Problem 4
State of the Art – Water Systems 5
State of the Art – Conveyor Systems 6
End User 7
Summary of Research 7
Quality Function Deployment 9
Concepts Drawings 13
Project Management 14
References: 15
Appendices 16
Problem Statement

For our Senior Design Project we hope to address the inefficiencies of the currently
available residential dishwashers. In a world where more and more things are being automated, it
seems like the modern dishwasher hasn’t changed in half a century. We hope to make a
dishwasher that ensures customers never have a cluttered sink or countertop again. We hope to
accomplish this by designing and building a one step dishwasher that never needs to be
unloaded. The basic design will be one that takes loaded dishes, cleans them, and then filters
them into a cabinet ready to be used again.
Research

Background of the Problem

Countless millions across the world hate doing the dishes. Couples, parents and children all fight
over who gets stuck doing them because of how unpleasant it can be. And the solution for many
decades was the dishwasher as we know it now. Where you have to rinse off the dish, then load
it into the dishwasher, then wait for hours until it's done, then unload it and hope that the dishes
are clean enough. Given the ubiquitousness of this process, and the leaps and bounds we’ve
made in technology in recent years, we believe we can do better.
The problem we have chosen has quite a large magnitude, since it affects all households, as well
as restaurants, hotels, and other organizations. Washing dishes can be very tedious and is a time-
consuming activity, especially in the 21st century, where time is a more valuable resource than
ever before. According to a time use survey conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the
average person above 15 years old spends 13 minutes doing dishes every day, which translates to
1.52 hours a week [1]. If you decide to use a dishwasher to avoid washing dishes manually, you
will still have to rinse the dishes and manually load and unload the dishwasher, which takes time
and effort in and of itself. In addition, while it may not take too long to load a dishwasher, it will
still take anywhere between 2 - 4 hours for the dishwasher to actually clean the dishes. However,
time and convenience are not the only costs of our chosen problem.
While washing dishes may seem fairly tame, it is possible to develop injuries like back pain [2]
and repetitive stress/strain injuries (RSIs) such as carpal tunnel syndrome [3] while doing dishes.
This is of course in addition to more common ways of injuring yourself while washing dishes,
like cutting your hands or wrists on sharp objects like knives or shards of broken crockery.
The dishwasher is a device designed to reduce the inconveniences of having to spend time and
effort on cleaning dirty dishes, first invented almost a century ago in the 1920s [4]. The user has
to manually load dishes, add detergent, and set the required washing cycles, but the dishwasher
handles the actual cleaning of the dishes. On completing the manual steps, the dishwasher will
begin filling up a small basin at the bottom with water. This water is heated to the range of 130 -
140 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is then pumped up to the water jets, which spray the water at
the dirty dishes. During this step, the arms holding the water jets rotate to cover more area with
the spray. At the end of this cycle, the water drains back down to the basin, where the pump now
propels the water out of the dishwasher. Finally, as an optional step, some dishwashers may use
the heating element that heats the water up to also heat the air inside the dishwasher, thus drying
the dishes. [5]
State of the Art – Water Systems
Standard home dishwashers all contain a similar water and heating system. Water is pumped in,
heated, and then sprayed on the dishes while detergent helps to dissolve and clear away any food.
Three common methods of dispersing the heated water are through a Wash Tower, Spray Arms,
and a Spray Nozzle.
Wash Tower
An older way of cleaning dishes that dates back to 1973 and is still being used in dishwashers
today is the wash tower. Wash towers include an extendable arm connected to a rotating base
that directs heated water from the bottom of the washer to the top via a hollow tower within the
arm. As the water is pressurized, the pressure pushes the arm to the top of the washer through a
hole in the racks and sprays water up into the dishes on the top rack [6]. This method has its
issues as the tower can get stuck in the upright position because food gets lodged in the system
and requires to be manually unstuck [7].
Singular Spray Arm
Spray arms are the simplest design for wash systems. Spray arms consist of a number of rotating
arms that each contain water jets that spray water up at the dishwasher system. This is the
cheapest design, but can have some issues reaching the top rack of a dishwasher. It is however
the most compact design requiring the least amount of space to install and operate which makes
it very appealing for compact machines. This design is also much more heavily reliant on the
operator loading the dishes in such a way that no dish completely blocks another.
Dual Spray Arms
Slightly better at cleaning is a dual spray arm configuration. These dishwashers have Spray arms
at the top and bottom of the system. These spray arms are independently supplied with heated
and pressurized water and can either both target the lower rack, or split up to each clean one of
the racks [8]. This system type is a bit more complicated but more fully ensures that all dishes
are cleaned as needed. It is less reliant than other systems on how the operator loads the system.
Water Heating Methods
In addition to the method for dispersing water, different dishwashers use different methods for
heating the water. Different options for heating the water include an internal water heater, an
external water heater, and pumping in hot water.
Dishwashers with an internal water heater usually have a heating coil around the base of the
spray arm at the bottom of the washer that heats the water as it sprays onto the dishes. This
method is efficient because it can also commonly be used to dry the dishes at the end of the cycle
as well. Some debate is to be had as to the value of heat drying vs air/condensation drying
however [9].
Dishwashers with an external water heater heat the water as it flows from the water source to the
dishwasher. These water heaters may or may not store hot water. Some are instantaneous and
heat the water directly as the washer needs it. Others hold a small volume of water and keep it
heated to a proper temperature. Both dishwashers with an internal and external water heater can
still be paired with the third option to use the hot water from the house.
Some dishwashers simply rely on the hot water from the house. These dishwashers tend to clean
slightly less effectively as the water stored in a house is usually not as hot as typical dishwashers
use when cleaning and may not reach temperature high enough to kill all forms of bacteria. This
method is however the easiest as it requires no specific heating elements.

State of the Art – Conveyor Systems

Since most residential dishwashers have no conveyor systems to move dishes, I decided to focus
on industrial dishwashers with conveyor systems. These can be classified into three categories:
rack conveyors, flight conveyors, and special purpose conveyors.
Rack Conveyor Dishwashers
In rack conveyor dishwashers, the conveyor system is an internal ratchet system that is able to
move standardized 20x20” plastic dish racks through the machines various wash zones or tanks
[10]. Taking the Hobart CLeN series rack conveyor dishwashers as an example, the user simply
pushes a loaded rack of dishes into the machine till the conveyor catches on to the rack [11].
From there, the dish rack is pulled through the machine’s power scraper (if installed) and the
wash and rinse zones, and then brought out to the clean dish table [11].
Rack conveyor dishwashers can move dishes at a maximum speed of 10.9 feet per minute,
enabling them to clean up to 288 racks (about 28,000 dishes) per hour, and they can even be
fitted with additional tanks or wash zones and have their conveyors extended as needed [10].
However, such speed is not required for residential use, and while the conveyor is automated, it
can only move dish racks. This means that the user will still have to load the dishes into a rack
manually, and furthermore this means that the user will be required to have several plastic dish
racks, which does not make economic sense for a single household.
Flight Conveyors Dishwashers (Continuous Belt Conveyors)
Flight conveyors are similar to rack conveyors in that they have a conveyor system that runs
through the machine’s different wash zones. However, flight conveyors have a continuous
conveyor belt instead of using a rack conveyor system [10]. I used the Hobart FT1000e as a
general example of the operation of this type of dishwasher. The user simply pushes a start
button to start the conveyor (and other systems) and places the dishes on the conveyor belt (this
particular model requires pre-scraping of large food particles before this step) [12]. Silverware
must still be placed in a rack to prevent damage to the machine, and there are specific positions
that plates, bowls, etc. should be placed in on the conveyor [12].
Flight conveyors can be even faster than rack conveyors, with a maximum speed of 13.6 feet per
minute [10]. They are also good at washing many items of the same kind in succession, since the
speed of the conveyor belt can be adjusted to account for the kind of dishware to be cleaned [10]
[12]. From the operation of the example above, they also require much less effort on the part of
the user than rack conveyors. However, they are less flexible than rack conveyors since they
need a straight-line length for the conveyor [10], and therefore may be even larger, which is an
undesirable trait for a residential dishwasher.
Special Purpose Conveyor Dishwashers
Special purpose conveyors are used in dishwashers that are meant to clean a specific kind of
cutlery or dishware. These can be varied in their designs since they are specifically tailored to
one particular item to be cleaned. For example, the Champion CG Rotary-Type Conveyor is
designed specifically to wash glasses [13]. 
These dishwashers can be very effective in certain situations. The Champion CG is capable of
cleaning up to 2000 glasses per hour, and the rotary conveyor allows it to achieve this number in
a limited space [14]. However, when considering residential applications, households generally
have a small number of different types of dishware, and not thousands of one type of dishware.
Specializing a conveyor to work for just one item would make it unable to handle all the other
dishes a user would like to have cleaned, making this type of dishwasher unfeasible. 

End User
Anyone who washes dishes and wants to have more time for doing anything else in life can be
impacted by the problem, and thus stand to gain the most from our solution. Mainly we would be
targeting residential household, small businesses and businesses with secondary roles in food
preparation. Businesses with primary roles in producing food already have commercial
dishwashers that are far more effective at cleaning dishes quickly. We will be focusing rather on
cleaning dishes with less effort from the user and marketing this product to residential homes.
Users will need almost no skill to operate the machine as it will be completely automated.

Summary of Research
Due to the extra functions and mechanical apparatuses, our dishwasher will need its water
technology to be as compact as possible. It is for this reason at least preliminarily, that I
recommend we use a single spray arm configuration with an external water heater connected to a
home’s hot water system. Without the wash tower or a second spray arm, we will have much
more room to fit the conveyor. Similarly, with an external water heater, we won’t have to worry
about fitting a heating element into the system. It also will give us the flexibility to move the hot
water as we see fit. These considerations in mind, it should be reasonable for us to create our
dishwasher.
Additionally, it would seem that a suitable conveyor system for our automated dishwasher does
not yet exist. Residential dishwashers, not being automated in the way we envision, do not have
conveyor systems. Commercial conveyor dishwashers do have automated conveyors, but each
type has distinct advantages and disadvantages, and all are unfeasible for residential use. To
realize our project, we need a conveyor system that is compact, that allows the user to simply
place the dish on the conveyor instead of first having to load a dish rack, and that can handle
many different shapes, sizes and types of dishware.
Quality Function Deployment

Based on a survey conducted by our Senior Design team that concluded on the 24th of September
2020, we determined five customer features to be of the highest importance (these will be
discussed in the next section). The survey was a google form that received 31 responses, and is
represented below:

Automated Dishwasher Customer Poll

The purpose of this survey is discover what priorities are most important to a general
dishwasher user. We would like to you to consider the priorities below and decide how
important they are to you. If you currently have a dishwasher, we will also invite you to
consider the performance of your current dishwasher in a similar follow-up question.
If there are any priorities unseen below that you wish companies would consider, please
mention it in the "Comments/Concerns" section below.

When considering a dishwasher, how important are the following priorities? (Ranked 5-
Most Important, to 1-Least Important)
● How long it takes to wash a dish
● Low noise level
● Efficiency in power/water
● Cost
● How clean the dishes are
● Operator ease of use
● Size of the dishwasher
● Required cleaning medium (liquid, powder, tablets etc.)
● Appearance
● How often it requires service
● Dishwasher capacity
● Total automation
● Loading orientation
Do you currently have a dishwasher? (Answered yes/no)
When using your current dishwasher, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with its
performance in the following priorities?
● How long it takes to wash a dish
 ● Low noise level
● Efficiency in power/water
● Cost
● How clean the dishes are
● Operator ease of use
● Size of the dishwasher
● Required cleaning medium (liquid, powder, tablets etc.)
● Appearance
● How often it requires service
● Dishwasher capacity
● Total automation
● Loading orientation

Customer Features
According to our survey, the five most important features to customers are:
1. Cleanliness of Dishes (23%)
2. Price (21%)
3. Service Frequency (19%)
4. Operator Ease of Use (19%)
5. System Capacity (18%)

Engineering Characteristics
To provide our customers with the features they desire, we have chosen to use the following
engineering characteristics:
1. Temperature
2. Water Pressure
3. Price of Materials
4. Part Lifespan
5. Number of Instructions Needed
6. Total Steps in Operation Process
7. Number of Dishes Held Within System
House of Quality
Product Objectives
Cleanliness of Dishes (23%)
To ensure the cleanliness of dishes, we will use a water-soap mixture at the appropriate
temperature and water pressure, which will allow our dishwasher to thoroughly sanitize the
dishes regardless of their location within the washer. To this end, we will also install the water
jets at strategic locations.
Price (21%)
While ensuring that we select materials for our device that are best suited to the job and are of
high quality, we will also try to minimize the price of the materials we need. This will help us
ensure a lower cost of purchase for the end user, our customers.
Service Frequency (19%)
To keep maintenance intervals few and far between, we will design all components of our
dishwasher to be as long-lived as possible, with the ability to withstand a large amount of cycles.
This will involve keeping designs for each component simple, sturdy, and fool-proof.
Operator Ease of Use (19%)
To achieve this goal, we will focus on automating all or most processes that occur in our
dishwasher. This will include an auto-loading system, automatic washing system, and even a
conveyor system that will bring the dishes into a cabinet for storage once they are clean.
System Capacity (18%)
To give our dishwasher a reasonable capacity, we aim to make the attached cabinet large enough
to fit an average household’s dishes (with some extra margin), and we aim to make the actual
washer large enough to wash at least as many dishes as regular dishwashers are able to
accommodate at a time.
Concepts Drawings
Project Management

Project Budget Limit

Key Milestones
References:

1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. American Time Use Survey. bls.gov. [Online] 12 20, 2016. [Cited: 9 3,
2020.] https://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/household.htm.

2. The Pain Center. Minimizing Back Pain While Doing Dishes and Cleaning the Floor. The Pain Center.
[Online] 3 5, 2014. [Cited: 9 3, 2020.] https://www.thepaincenter.com/news/minimizing-back-pain-
while-doing-dishes-and-cleaning-the-floor.

3. Texas Health Care. Common Hand Injuries. Texas Health Care. [Online] 7 7, 2017. [Cited: 9 3, 2020.]
https://www.txhealthcare.com/health-news/common-hand-injuries/86/.

4. Howard, Livens William. Improvements in apparatus for washing household crockery and the like.
GB219103 Great Britain, 10 23, 1924. Domestic Washing or Cleaning.

5. Grabianowski, Ed. How Dishwashers Work. How Stuff Works. [Online] 3 28, 2006. [Cited: 9 3, 2020.]
https://home.howstuffworks.com/dishwasher.htm.

6. Schweitzer, Andrew N. Dishwasher Water Tower. US3774626A OH, USA, 11 27, 1973.

7. GE Appliances. Dishwasher Stuck Spray Tower. products.geappliances.com. [Online] [Cited: 9 16,

2020.] https://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-support-search-content?contentId=18918&gt.

8. Laszczewski Jr., Richard R., Bertsch, Roger J. and Irwin, Eric C. Dishwasher Spray Arm Feed System.
US6612009B1 USA, 9 2, 2003.

9. Atlantic Coast Appliance. The Dishwasher Debate: Air- or Heat- Dry Cycle?
atlanticcoastappliance.com. [Online] May 20, 2020. [Cited: 9 18, 2020.]
https://www.atlanticcoastappliance.com/blog/2020/may/the-great-dishwasher-debate-air-or-heat-dry-
cycl/.

10. Chem Mark, Inc. Quick Guide To All Commercial Dishwasher Types. chemmarkinc.com. [Online]
[Cited: 9 13, 2020.] https://www.chemmarkinc.com/commercial-dishwasher-types-explained.

11. Hobart Corporation. https://cdn2.webdamdb.com/md_hMNcH1PB5G31.jpg.pdf?1584618540.

hobartcorp.com. [Online] [Cited: 9 13, 2020.]
https://cdn2.webdamdb.com/md_hMNcH1PB5G31.jpg.pdf?1584618540.

12. —. https://cdn2.webdamdb.com/md_Q2Px1wjSD666.jpg.pdf?1562846087. hobartcorp.com.

[Online] [Cited: 9 13, 2020.] https://cdn2.webdamdb.com/md_Q2Px1wjSD666.jpg.pdf?1562846087.

13. Champion Industries. CG Commercial Warewashing Kitchen Glasswasher Equipment Products.

championindustries.com. [Online] [Cited: 9 13, 2020.] https://www.championindustries.com/cg?
page_id=63.

14. —. Glass Washers. championindustries.com. [Online] [Cited: 9 13, 2020.]

https://www.championindustries.com/glass-washers-1.
Appendices