Materializing light: using electroluminescent material in surface design

Abstract

This graduation project follows the process of researching, developing and creating a demonstrator for a surface design using the electroluminescent material - EL for short - a sandwich structured composite that emits light when alternating current flows through it. The project kicks-off with an analysis phase where the electroluminescent material and relevant client products are introduced. This includes a detailed description of the EL material from working principle to pre-fabricated versions possible to purchase from online stores. Next the EL materials themselves and A+N products were tinkered with. New DIY techniques are introduced which can help to create quick prototypes. This phase also was helped by three searches: experiential characterisation, luminescence measurement and connecting a sample to an oscilloscope to see how frequency affects the colour output. The surface design phase started with rapid prototyping ideas; a few selected ones were iterated on and turned into phosphor covered models that light up under UV light. The chosen concept direction is a set of twisted stripe designs that can be organised into a large pattern on a wall. The concept development started with creating all the elements of the tile set and some possible large patterns. During a long iteration phase the final version of the concept - a simple tile set with two different twist designs was developed. The last chapter describes the production of the demonstrators; the making of the EL sheets and then the assembly steps. The chapter introduces the final design - the LUX TWIST tile site. The LUX Twist Tile set is a modular surface installation that uses electroluminescent (EL) material to create an illuminated 3D pattern on a wall. The base module is a tile with twisted electroluminescent strips on it. The set consists of different tile designs, the featured twist comes in a curved and a straight option, available in left and right orientations. An empty tile is also part of the set to increase the variety of creatable patterns. The tiles can be connected with wire plugs at the back, which allows the current to flow from one to another. The last tile has to be connected to an inverter, then it can be plugged into a socket. The size of the installation and the pattern created with the different tiles can be completely customized to fit a desired environment and lighting conditions.