Project
# | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
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62 | Light Management for Healthier Circadian Rhythms |
Elizabeth McKenna Josh Magid Richard Yan |
Ali Kourani | design_document1.pdf final_paper1.pdf other1.pdf presentation1.pptx proposal1.pdf |
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Team Members: Richard Yan(ry6), Josh Magid(jrmagid2), Elizabeth McKenna(edm3) - all in person Problem Statement: Covid has forced a lot of people to work from home, and the harshness of their room lights has many adverse effects on the eyes and natural circadian rhythm. Additionally, working from home has driven up electricity bills according to USA TODAY. Solution Overview: This idea would solve this problem through a set of light sensors and an internal clock. Sensors at each doorway will detect when someone enters and exits a room, specifically at night, in order to turn on the lights when someone enters and turn off the lights when someone exits. Additionally, the internal clock will switch the light being emitted into the room depending on the time of day. After sunset the yellow light will turn on for an evening mode in order to prevent strain on the eye. This internal clock will be helpful in situations where someone goes to the bathroom at 3am and instead of turning all the lights on, a dim light will turn on. Each light will be attached to a dimmer circuit, and will automatically dim the lights in a room depending on the outside brightness and color temperature. This will prevent continuous strain on an individual's eyes from constant bright overhead lights. Our product would help people who are indoors often and want to simulate natural lighting. Solution Components: Subsystem #1: We will first build an ambient light sensor through an op-amp circuit. We have done some research and found that a noise free op amp works best to produce a low output current. The ambient light sensor will then be connected to our Arduino Due, which will be able to monitor illuminance and light intensity. This sensor will be placed on a window where it can monitor brightness outside to match your indoor lighting. We will have multiple ambient light sensors to accurately detect true brightness. There will also be an internal clock that will switch LED colors (white to yellow) at night. Subsystem #2: By using a dimmer circuit, we can control the brightness of our LEDs through the ambient light sensor’s readings in subsystem #1 to match outdoor lighting. Subsystem #3: We will use a color sensor to determine color temperature. We will then use a bank of intensity controlled LEDs that are of different color ratings in order to be able to simulate the color of outside. We will have multiple color sensors to accurately detect true color temperature. Subsystem #4: Laser detectors will be used to monitor the location of every person in the house and only keep the minimum necessary number of lights on to save energy. Two lasers will be placed on every doorway in order to detect the movement from one room to another and turn on/off lights when you enter/exit a room. Subsystem #5: GPS module that will receive the GPS clock and syncs up time with the Arduino. This will change color of LEDs from white to yellow at a certain time at night. Criteria for Success: For this problem to be successful we will have a light system for a system of rooms. This system will determine when the light outside is not sufficient to brighten a room and turn on the lights when an individual enters. The lights will also be tuned to color match the outside light. The lights will then turn off when that person exits. Using both the light from outside and the time of day the system will appropriately dim the lights. Lastly, the system will determine if the time is past sunset and switch the light to a yellow night time light to reduce the strain on the user’s eyes. Link to Idea: https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=67220 |