We went to Radio Kootwijk to present our concept to the other teams. When we arrived at the radio station we were impressed by the big building called ‘Building A’. From 1917 until 1966 the building was used to regulate the communication between The Netherlands and the colony of Indonesia. The building is situated somewhere in De Veluwe. The reason that the government chose this area is that there aren’t any factors that could disturb the radio frequencies, like airplanes and electronic devices.
The presentation was not held in Building A, but in a smaller building next to it. Present were not only the other teams that participate in the Light Challenge, but also the jury, the teamcoaches, municipality workers and a lot of representatives of companies specialised in public lighting. The idea was that after each presentation the jury and the students could both ask one question to the team. After the presentations there were two feedback moments with different parties, like the coaches from other teams and interested companies. After the feedback moments we finished the meeting with a drink and an exchange of ideas about our concept.
The feedback moments were very productive for us. Different suggestions were made to improve our fixture, lighting system and the sensors. To mention just one of the questions that was asked about the colored LEDs: where are you going to place the LED in your fixture? When you put them on the bottom you can place mirrors or aluminium in the top so that the light reflects and then goes down. Like this you can decide how big you want the mirror to be, and by that decide the reflection of the light. The negative point is that you loose about 20% of the light because of the mirror. When you put the LEDs in the top of the armature the light shines down, but it might be more difficult to install. Also some questions were asked about the design of the white LEDs that we want to use as the safety light. We want to place the LEDs underneath the lamp, but how are we going to shape this? How much LEDs do we need and it what kind of form? All these feedback questions were very useful for the improvement of our concept and the production of a prototype.
