Created by Verma, Richa, last modified by Saravanakumar, Roshini on Feb 16, 2018

roshini2 Roshini Saravanakumar ECE 110

sashok3 Saidivya Ashok ECE 110

vatsala2 Vatsala Verma ECE 110  

INTRODUCTION

Statement of Purpose

 As busy college students, even the most eco-friendly of us may fail to make smart decisions when we're juggling other tasks and schoolwork. Turning off lights when no one is in the room or when there's sufficient daylight in the room are easy ways to reduce our individual carbon footprints. On a much smaller scale, automatic lights would also save many of us from our own laziness or forgetfulness to turn off the lights when they are not needed. (smile) Our goal by the end of this project is to automate the lights in our dorm rooms using several sensors. What makes our project unique is that we will be using motion as well as light sensors to control the lighting system depending on human activity and incident sunlight.

Background Research  

Although this may not seem like it would have a significant impact compared to the tons of carbon being dumped into our Earth everyday, automating this simple task in every lighting system worldwide, or even better, in every electronics system, would certainly decrease unnecessary energy consumption on the consumer level. We realized that this energy efficient technology of lights would be very useful for dorm rooms. We noticed this technology being used in various rooms on campus. Most of us forget to turn the lights off when we leave our rooms. Often, we leave the dorm lights on even when it is bright outside. We aim to setup a system that will ensure that the lights turn off in both the scenarios and we should be able to save a lot of energy in this manner. 

DESIGN DETAILS

Block Diagram/ Flow Chart  

 


System Overview 

PARTS

 1. SparkFun PIR Motion Sensor (JST)

 2. SparkFun Redboard-Programmed with Arduino

 3. Breadboard

 4. Phototransistor

 5. Resistors and wires for building the circuit


POSSIBLE CHALLENGES 

1. Interpreting the data received simultaneously from the light sensor and the motion sensor and incorporating it into a circuit in order to create an efficient system.

2. Co-ordination between the manual and automated parts of the system.


REFERENCES

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_30-6-2010-11-55-26 

https://learn.adafruit.com/pir-passive-infrared-proximity-motion-sensor?view=all


Attachments:

Walk-In Lights Block Diagram 1.jpg (image/jpeg)
Walk-In Lights Block Diagram 1 (application/octet-stream)
Walk-In Lights Block Diagram 1 (application/octet-stream)
Walk-In Lights Block Diagram 1.png (image/png)

Comments:

I really like where you all are going with this project, but could you do some research into how much power could be wasted by accidentally leaving the lights on in a room relative to how much power your system would use?

Something else to consider: Large buildings on campus (ex Illini Union) have recently installed systems for regulating the HVAC and light systems of buildings and they use sensors to actually calculate how many people are in the room. You all might be able to incorporate this into your design (smile)
Posted by atmarsh3 at Feb 16, 2018 17:01

Project approved
Posted by chorn4 at Feb 21, 2018 17:38

Cool idea!  I like the option for additional features in your block diagram.   Are you going to build something to control actual light switches or use LEDs for Proof of Concept?
Posted by mnwilso2 at Feb 22, 2018 00:23

Thank you for pointing it out, we completely forgot about looking at the power consumption for the different components of our project. We have found a few designs to reduce the maximum power that the sensor will use and we hope that it will serve the purpose.

We hope to be able to modify the circuit and make it as useful and efficient as possible.

Thank you so much for the ideas! They were super helpful.
Posted by vatsala2 at Feb 22, 2018 00:35

We will use LEDs as of now because we don’t want to mess with the light switches unless we are absolutely sure that our design works.
Posted by vatsala2 at Feb 22, 2018 00:37