3) Problem Identified

Ecole Mondiale World School
The Lighting Project
Dheer Shah 11.1
Teacher: Mr. Vikas Singh
Subject: Design Technology
E-Mail:

Contents

1) Introduction

2) Problems

3) Problem Identified

4) Chosen Problem

5) Design brief

6) Initial Specification

7) Plan of Action

8) Research Plan

9) Primary research questionnaire

10) Research Analyses

11) Final Design Specification

12) Attribute Listing

13) Generating Ideas (Stage 1)

14) Generating Ideas (Stage 2)

15) Analyses of Designs from Stage 2

16) Working Drawing of Final Solution

17) Evaluate Final Solution

18) Prototype

19) Evaluation Of Prototype

Introduction

Lighting is the calculated application of light to achieve aesthetical and practical effect on the environment. Lighting includes use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and natural illumination of interiors from broad daylight. Day lighting through windows, skylights is often used as the main source of light during daytime in buildings giving it low cost and high efficiency. Artificial lighting represents a major component of energy consumption, accounting for a significant part of all energy consumed worldwide therefore strategies and concepts such as green design also should be used to help this cause. Artificial lighting is most commonly provided today by electric lights, but gas lighting, candles, or oil lamps were used in the past, and still are used in certain situations for portraying different emotions for example candles for romantic situations. Proper lighting can enhance task performance or aesthetics, while there can be energy wastage and adverse health effects of poorly designed lighting. Indoor lighting is a form of fixture or furnishing, and a key part of interior design. Lighting can also be an intrinsic component of landscaping.

Problems

1) Disco and nightclubs have a very dark ambience and so people many times tend to misinterpret the path to exit or the washroom and so have accidents.

2) Typing at night on a laptop gets very hard and all the keys are not very easily visible due to which users tend to get frustrated. Then the laptop screen brightness is put on full, which does hurt the eye of the user and also consumes more battery.

3) Tropical and rural regions have a lot of electricity problems and so it becomes very hard to conduct normal household chores after sunset.

4) Many rooms depend on one source of light and when the bulb fuses the user is then left with no choice but to wait till the next morning till shops open, and so causes the user a great deal of inconvenience.

5) Jewelry shops use a lot of light, which consume a lot of electricity and is not very efficient.

6) Car when stranded at night on a road, users have a lot of problem looking at engines part or change tires due to lack of lighting.

7) When car get stranded at night it is very hard for them to seek attention as driver tend to skip the sign and other indicators.

8) Due to the lack of light cameras cannot take the same quality of videos at night and so have to switch of night mode which is black and white. This quality is not very rich in quality and does not satisfy user satisfactions.

Problems Identified

Problem 1

Typing at night on a laptop gets very hard and all the keys are not very easily visible due to which users tend to get frustrated. Then the laptop screen brightness is put on full, which does hurt the eye of the user and also consumes more battery.

This problem is a very common problem amongst all age group and especially the working class. I myself many times stay over at my friend’s house and want to work at night when he is asleep. This is not appreciated my him because I keep the lights on when I want to work as in the dark I cannot type as the keys are not visible. The I was left with either ignoring my friend and keeping the room lights on or increasing my monitor light to full which in not only unhealthy for ones eye but also does not solve the purpose fully. This way time is wasted and so is money. Money is wasted, as the monitor screen will be on full the battery life will reduce making the user charge his laptop and consuming more electricity than required. Therefore a solution to this problem is needed as it has implications on ones health and resorts to usage of more electricity.

Problem 2

Tropical and rural regions have a lot of electricity problems and so it becomes very hard to conduct normal household chores after sunset.

This problem is very common in the place where I live, India. In India living in one of the biggest cities in the world, Mumbai. I don’t come across electricity problem but villages in India and small townships really have an enormous problem of power shortages. This is common not only in households but also in public centers and hospitals where light is needed at most. If someone falls ill at night and there is no electricity how would the doctor examine or treat the patient. If there are important chores left to do, how will they be conducted without power? The people have learned to live this way, as in my village people finish diner by six thirty in the evening as the sun will set after and go to sleep. I was shocked to see people adjusting when technology has grown and progressed to such a level where scientist are talking about nano molecules which could light the whole of New York city for 3 minutes. Therefore I think a solution is required for such townships and villages for the betterment of the people and humanity.

Problem 3

When car get stranded at night it is very hard for them to seek attention as driver tend to skip the sign and other indicators.

German or American all cars stop or have some problem always due to bad road conditions or bad engineering. Car problems are problems humans have always dealt with and every person has at least experienced once in a lifetime. I personally used to travel my car every weekend to a city 150kms away and have had several problems. The worst situation is at night when it is hard to obtain help on highways and other country roads. Being night, scientifically proven the driver is driving with lesser alertness and highways now a days being so broad is very easy to skip a car, which is stranded. Many times people wait till morning to obtain help and are helpless without food or water. A solution is required where some king of light can indicate trouble and can be significant enough to grab any driver’s attention. This would not only help the user but also police and ambulances detect emergencies faster. Therefore a solution for this problem is needed.

Chosen Problem

This problem is a very common problem amongst all teenagers and working people who have to live or share their space with another person. People have to work many times late at night due to extensive work pressure due to lack of space they cannot have a separate study room and so have to work in the same room a person might be sleeping. This becomes really hard, as the person sleeping would be disturbed if the lights were turned on and in the dark it is really hard for the person working to type on the laptop, as the monitor screen light is not strong enough to suffice the need of the user.

This problem has occurred many times with my friend, family and other people I know. This problem is important as the lack of light could not only make ones work more tedious and tiring but also harm ones eye sight in an intense manner.

Therefore I have chosen this problem by which I will try to create a solution, which would make-work easier, quicker and safe for an individual.

Design Brief

The design goal for this project is to create a prototype with all functions to actual size but not working, as the material needed would be very expensive. This is a product for batch manufacturing and so single manufacturing would be hard to produce and obtain material for.

The this problem should consider illuminating the keyboard of the users computer or laptop in such a way which makes his typing easier and faster, and at the same time keeps his eye site from damage. It should also not be too strong, as it should not disturb any other person the environment around the user. The illuminator can be a fixture or any other kind, which must be compatible and durable. It has to be durable and at the same time user friendly. The fixture must fit different sizes and monitors can be of various sizes. The fixture should have a bulb, which lasts long and uses less battery.

The major constraint of this function is that is should not break easily and should have a design for manufacture, it should comply with the guidelines given by the doctor, as it should not harm the users eye.

The resulted outcome should be a light, which helps user use their laptops at night without disturbing other people; this should make their work easier and help keep their eyesight healthy.

The target market for this product should be higher-grade student to young entrepreneurs. This product would focus at an age group from 15 to 30 but would also help serve ages above and below as the problem solved by this product is very common and present in all ages.

The criteria by which the product will be a good design is by increased cost effectiveness which would be achieved by using less batteries which would cost the user. The second criteria would be that the design should be long lasting making is durable and affordable for the user and producer by means of design for manufacture and design for disassembly.

Initial Specification

Þ The product must be lightweight. This is because it would be a fixture on the laptop monitors and as they are free to movement, if the product is heavy it would tend to change the screen position that could be irritating for the user.

Þ The light of the fixture has to be sufficient in lighting and not too strong. This is because then it would not serve the purpose as the people in the room will be disturbed either way and so the product would not be useful.

Þ The fixture must fit on the screen easily and should be free to movement. This is because some laptops could be very expensive and could have design on the monitor. The fixture must ensure that it does not damage this design. The fixture be free to movement as this product is for all product and so cannot limit its size to only one type of laptop.

Þ The fixture must be long lasting and durable. The product must be very durable as this product has a very high probability of being roughly used.

Þ The fixture should have high battery life. This is needed as the user would get tired of changing batteries every time and so would be de-motivated to use the product.

Plan of Action

Step / Justification / Time Period
Research on types of lights and fixtures / This would be needed as different lights and types of fixtures would guide the shape and light of the fixture is most important / 1 hour
Research on types of bulbs and batteries / After researching on types of lights it is imperative to decide the type of bulb and battery as the size of both matters a lot / 1 hour
Research on types of materials / This is very important as it is very necessary to know what material would hold strong be little flexible and would resist jerks and heat. / 1 hour
Research on ways of attaching materials / This would be needed to know how the fixture would fit various sizes / 1 hour
Research on circuiting / This is imperative to know how to attach the battery to the bulb and how battery should not be wasted. / 1 hour
Imply this research into design / This is necessary, as we would need to know how feasible are these ideas. / 3 hours
Come to a final design and make orthographic drawing. / This is needed to obtain clear thoughts / 2 hours
Evaluate final design / This is there to get an opinion before investing in prototypes / 1 hour
Make an prototype / This would help get the feel of the actual product and help identify some problems which could hamper the product / 3 hours
Evaluate prototype / This would help modify the design / 1 hour
Modify the design / This would mean a full proof design which would then be successful / 1 hour
Make final design / 10 hours
Evaluate final design / This would help evaluate the design better and indentify mistakes at a closer and more intricate level. / 2 hours
Make changes to final design / This would help ensure that these mistakes are not made again / 2 hours

Graph of Time vs. Each Step

Research Plan

Primary Research

1) Interview people for what problems they might have at night while using their laptops.

This is intended to give me as a designer more problems, which users have, and so more problems could be targeted making the product more viable for the consumer.

2) Interview doctors for their opinion on how insufficient light affects the eye.

This would give more of a medical guideline to the product, which is needed to prevent the consumers eyes from getting damaged.

Secondary Research

3) How does the types of lights and fixtures affect the product and how can they be used to get the best output?

This would be needed as in my design I have to make sure that the bulbs do not absorb too much light or have too much power to make it more economical. Also that the fixture needs to fit all screen sizes and so needs to have flexible joints or edges, which stretch.