Building the demonstrator
The time was there to build the indoor climate lamp. Now it comes down to what materials should be used. One thing that is for sure is that the arduino is used to receive the input from the Xbee modules. The logical thing to do is use the arduino to control the output.
For the output a light is chosen that can be seen during the daylight and would give a nice fluent glow when lit. Here at the spire institute they had a 3W RGB LED that meets the requirements. The only downside is the heat it produces, together with the transistors to drive the 350 mA current.
The material for the diffusion of the light was also a coincidence. In the research center was a piece of rest material they used for a projector screen which breaks the light in a fluent way. The only challenge left was to find the right material for the base.
Another electronic challenge was the power supply. The LEDs need approximately 3V per channel at 350mA. This comes down to roughly 1A per LED. In this case 5 of these are used so a 5A power supply was necessary to only drive the LEDs. Not alone 3V was needed, but also 9~12V for the powering of the sensor boxes. The best way to go is an old power supply from a computer. It has all these power levels and can deliver enough amps per line, plus at a university are enough old computers lying around that can be scavenged.
The sensor boxes are made out of foamcore which gives them a neutral look from a shape and color point of view. People should not reflect on the object but should use the object to talk about the indoor climate. The lamp should follow this neutral language.
The first try was to use 3mm foamcore to create the base. This turned out to be a precise job and was taking too much time to cut it neatly. The other downside is the durability of the material. It dents easily which makes it not the ideal material for transportation.
Foamcore mockup
During the ITD course I worked with a lasercutter to cut the materials from flat material and glued the whole thing together as a big puzzle. The material was changed to something more durable but still easy to finish, MDF.
Denmark, or at least Sønderborg, was not the best place to find a lasercutter that could cut MDF. The decision was made to do this at a company in the Netherlands.
Overview of the components
With all the loose parts together the big fun of building could start.