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Jacob Key
R&D Engineer
Variable Light Box
Organization:
BME Design Fellows
Project Description:
As a part of the BME Design Fellows skills-building projects, students were tasked with designing and prototyping a variable lightbox that could toggle an LED between continuous and blinking modes as well as modulate the brightness of the LED using a potentiometer. Each light box had to meet a set of user specifications such as 2 Hz blink rate, 50% duty cycle, >4 hour battery life, <$20, etc.
What I Learned:
Through this project, I gained a lot of experience in PCB design and circuit prototyping. KiCAD was used to design the circuit schematic and create the PCB. To achieve the blinking and PWM modulation settings 555 timers were used as the base current into transistors preceding an LED (see circuit schematic below). I gained soldering and circuit testing experience through assembling the final PCB. Each user specification (2 Hz blink rate, 50% duty cycle, etc.) had to be tested using an oscilloscope and multimeter. Finally, I gained experience in CAD using Onshape to design the external enclosure for the LightBox. The enclosure was designed with inserts for each other external circuit components and tolerances that allowed for a tight fit between the lid and box.
CAD: 2D Drawings & 3D Renderings
PCB Design
Final Prototype
Testing
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