RFID Beer Fridge

As a brother of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, I noticed that our Keg Fridge was getting quite old and could use some repairs. Having stripped out all of the keg dispensing components, I began thinking of how I could make this new Keg Fridge a little more technological. One aspect of University life that I find very interesting is seeing how much students drink. That's when I got the idea for an ID beer fridge. The concept is that each brother of the fraternity will receive an RFID card that has their name stored on it. When the brother wants a beer, they will go up to the fridge, tap their card and a solenoid valve behind the fridge will open allowing them to pour a drink. On top of providing a bit of beer security to the fraternity, the computer running the software will also store who is having a drink and when. A Raspberry Pi was chosen as the micro controller paired with a 16X2 LCD screen and an RC522 MiFare card reader. All of the electronics are stored in a project case that is mounted on the front of the fridge beside the tap.

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