Assignment 4

INTERACTIVE FANS FOR CANTEEN

The objective was to identify any area in the canteen which had scope for enhanced interaction.I observed that for a big place like the canteen there were many tables and many fans too but not always were the fans switched off when people left.Therefore I decided to incorporate some level of interaction between the seating and the ceiling fans using basic electronics.

CONCEPT

I decided to map the chairs to respective ceiling fans-based on their location.And thereby when even one of the chairs mapped to the fan was occupied the fan would be turned on.When all of the chairs mapped to a fan are empty then the fan would be switched off automatically.But the switching off and on of fan would be overridden by the fan's switch that already exists for manual operation.This is to allow the switching off of the fan when the seated person does not want it or vice-versa.

PROS and CONS:

The most important advantage is that precious power can be saved. Also when there are a lot of switches and switchboards distributed over a wide area or different walls it is difficult to spot the correct switches for the fan/light one needs.This in turn requires trial and error to figure out correct switch or people just leave the switches on!

The ordering of chairs and placement with respective tables under mapped fans is essential for the working. Considering the advantages-this 'only 'minus point may not seem much!! In case of extra seating per table make-shift chairs that are not exactly mapped could be used/circulated around,keeping the mapped ones stationary.

SCOPE:

The automatic switching off of the lights is already implemented at the workshop but that is in place to ensure that at the end of the day all lights are switched off while closing the workshop.Therefore this could also be further modified and implemented in the canteen as switching on/off of lights based on the occupancy of the corresponding chairs,the time of the day and light availabilty.

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