In September 2019, the IEEE UFSM Student Branch started the first edition of the IluminIEEE Project. The main objective of this project is to collect LED lamps, repair them, and then donate them to needy schools in the city of Santa Maria.
In order to achieve this goal, boxes were made to collect the material, which were distributed in different points of the University so that people could donate their LED lamps. In this way, donations could be made at the Colégio Técnico Industrial de Santa Maria (CTISM), at Centro de Tecnologia (CT) and at Centro de Ciências Naturais e Exatas (CCNE). The event was publicized through social media such as Instagram and Facebook and also through internal communication between students and professors.
The maintenance of the lamps is developed in a joint action of the IEEE UFSM Student Branch with CTISM as a Nightwind Week Event, in a workshop held on October 22. The workshop was composed of two parts. The first was theoretical, where students could learn a little more about electronics, reviewing technical concepts and basic topologies of LED lamps. The second part was focused on practice, with students applying knowledge of electronic soldering and electronic components for the maintenance of the lamps.
The workshop had 15 participants and it was possible to recover 18 damaged LED lamps. It is important to highlight that the collection of lamps continues to be carried out and a new edition of the workshop is already being planned so that the material can be delivered to a needy school in the city of Santa Maria soon.