Coravin Septum Force Test

Problem:

At Coravin, one of the products is Vinitas which is made for wineries and vineyards. A crucial part to the system is the motors inside. These motors move needles to puncture a septum. Now that more Vinitas machines are in use some motors have encountered issues where they could not pierce the sample bottle septum.  

 

Action:

Find out the force required to puncture the septum:

• Setup a test using an Instron

• 3D printed a fixture to hold the sample bottle

• 3D printed a fixture to guide the needles

• ​3D printed a fixture to attach needles to Instron

• Performed multiple tests with needles of different conditions 

Find force on linear stage provided by motor

• Created a simple fixture to hold force gauge

• Tested multiple to locations to find different forces

 

Result:

 The force required for the needles to puncture the septum was much lower than the force provided by the movement of the linear stage. Multiple conditions, new, used, and dirty needles were used. The highest force was created by used needles with dried wine on them. Even these needles required a force that was much smaller than the provided motor force. This ruled out needles as the cause of why some machines around the world had this issue. 

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