GMU:PCB Arts/Sarah Horn

From Medien Wiki

Inspiration


Project Idea

To figure out what I want to do as my final project, I surfed the internet to come to know what kind of circuits I can built. After searching for the possibility to make LEDs blink in different rhythms, I found a way to let an LED blink following the rhythm of music.

About the circuit:

  • Components: resistors, capacitors, transistors, LEDs, switch, battery and microphone
  • The length of the LED flash depends on the capacity of the capacitor (e.g. 2.2 mF ≈ 1 s). The higher the capacity, the longer the LED blinks.
  • Tutorial and example circuit
  • Depending on the amount of LEDs you want you can expand the circuit.


My idea:

Thinking about how I can include a circuit like that in a PCB with an artistic touch, I collected some ideas and sketches. The rhythm following LEDs create a party atmosphere, so I'd like to build something that can be used in a party like situation as a mixture of decoration and play of light. To make it more useful I also want it to be ornamentally in every other circumstance, like a picture on the wall with an additional light effect. My thought was that it would be more comfortable if you have no need to put it down when you don’t use the effect. After experimenting with the different layers of the PCBs and finding out how to use them to make graphics, I’d like to create a black (solder mask) and white (silkscreen) picture with some highlights (copper mask – gold/silver). The size shall be not bigger than A4. The LEDs will be used as a frame for the picture or elements in the graphic which shine naturally (e.g. stars). Also I thought about making two different circuits at once, so a couple of LEDs glow all the time while some others blink. Because the picture is kept simple I can imagine using LEDs in different colors to make a nice contrast.