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Year 9 - The Night Light

The Task

If light is required at night, instead of
switching on the main light it is handy to
have a small night- light on a nearby bedside
cabinet. Your task is to design and make an imaginative light suitable for a particular user, e.g.
night-lights are often used in children's bedrooms to make them feel more secure and provide low level background lighting.

Limitations

1. The night-light should be no bigger than 200mm high x 200mm wide x 100mm deep.
2. It should have a background and a shaped foreground and a space for a circuit board.
3. It should have a switch to turn it on/off.
4. It should be based upon a theme.
5. It should be safe to use.
6. It should be stable.
7. It should be easy to operate.
8. The use of pictures or cutouts to decorate the background.
9. A means of supporting the circuit, background and foreground.


Requirements

1. A product analysis of a variety of lights e.g. torches, lamps and night table lights.
2. Labelled, coloured sketches to explore 3 designs.
3. Choose 1 design and use cutaways to show hidden detail. Give reasons as to why this design was chosen and explain how it meets the limitations.
4. Detailed drawings showing how the light body will be made.
5. An orthographic drawing of the chosen light body.
6. A finished night-light body which includes a light circuit and circuit holder.

Extension Work

Add to your circuit a variable resistor thus allowing the brightness of the light to be increased and decreased.


Programmes Of Study References

1c Activities in which they investigate, disassemble and evaluate familiar products and applications.
3a Identify appropriate sources of information that will help them with their designing;
3b Use design briefs to guide design thinking;
3c Develop a specification for their product;
3d Consider the needs and values of intended users and develop criteria for their design to guide thinking and form a basis for evaluation;
3e Generate design proposals that match stated design criteria and modify proposals to improve them;
3f Consider the aesthetics, function, safety, reliability, and the cost of their designs;
4a use a range of processes to shape and form materials, including forming by wastage, attachment, adhesion and combining;
4b Select materials, tools and equipment appropriate to the task;
4c Select and use appropriate methods of shaping and forming materials accurately;
4d Join and combine additional materials and components accurately in temporary and permanent ways;
6a To design, use and interconnect simple mechanical, electrical, electronic and pneumatic systems and subsystems;
6c To use electrical switches to control devices;
6d To use sensors in switching circuits;
6e That systems have inputs, processes and outputs, and to recognise these in existing products and products that they have made;
Pupils should be taught to investigate, disassemble and evaluate a wide range of products and applications, in order to learn how they function, and relate products to:
8a Their intended purposes;
8b The choice of materials and components, and the ways in which they have been used;
8c The processes used to produce them;
8d The scientific principles involved;
8e The views of users and manufacturers;
8f A range of alternative products;
10a Taking responsibility for recognising hazards in a range of products, activities, and environments with which they are familiar;
10b Using appropriate information sources to assess the risks, both immediate and cumulative;
10c Applying their knowledge and take action to control the risk to themselves and to others.

Technical Knowledge and Understanding

· Electronic components, soldering, parallel /series circuits, diagrams and symbols.
· Constructing wood joints, marking out, cutting, assembling and finishing.
· Designing and making effective lighting units and exploring possibilities of illumination, reflection and
shadows.

Tools and Equipment Needed

· Pine Try squares
· M.D.F Tenon saws
· Connector blocks Belt sanders
· Bulbs and holders Glass paper
· Slide switches Drill bits
· Flex Pillar drill
· L.D.R's and resistors
· Screwdrivers
· Soldering irons and solder
· Wire strippers

Using IT
· Orthographic drawings.

Using Science
· Electronics, circuits, systems.

Using Other Subjects

· Art Line drawings, outlines, shapes.
Using Economic And Industrial Understanding

Useful Resource Tasks

· Students book.

Year 9 - Night light

The Task
To develop a battery powered lighting device suitable for use as a night light. It must be interesting. effective and visually entertaining. It will have an internal circuit board to supply the illumination.

Setting The Task

'Electronic Eye' is a company who wishes to market a night light for a particular user group.
You have been asked to create a low level light for either babies, children, teenagers or older people
Who are afraid of the dark? The design of the night-light should have a theme.
Main Aims
1. To familiarise pupils with the Skilled use of hand tools and equipment.
2. To enable pupils to draw upon their own experiences in order to make decisions.
3. To develop an understanding of electronic circuits and systems.
4. To design products for specific end- user groups.


Values

Technical

· An understanding of electronic circuits and components.
· An awareness of the need for quality products, both in design and manufacture.

Economic

· Pupils should consider how a small batch production of their design would be produced.

Environmental

· The effect that their products can have on a particular user group in society.

Aesthetics

· Pupils should be aware of the importance of visual appeal in their products.


The Nature Of The Product

· A finished night- light no larger than 200x200x100mm in depth. It will have a suitable casing to house the circuit. The beam profile will need to be planned to avoid eye glare.
· An examination of existing night lights. Product analysis and Disassembly.
· Schematic drawings of circuit and 3d sketch of circuit.
· Situation, Brief, Specifications, Web diagram of possible users.
· Annotated initial ideas, with cutaways to show hidden detail.
· Orthographic drawing, parts list and cutting list.

 





 

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