VisiKid at the EXPO 2010

The EXPO 2010 in Shanghai presentes from 1 May to 31 October 2010 the child orientied readout system VisiKid from IKS Photovoltaik.

The background: The possibility to convert sunlight with solar cells directly into electric power, makes the photovoltaic to one of the popular renewable energies. It is for this reason that photovoltaic plants are installed enhanced on kindergartens and schools. Apart from the aspirated example function the kids should be most familiarized with renewables energies.

For the visualization of the energy yields of photovoltaic plants typically the "standard solution" is used: A large sized digital display to show the actual power and the total electric power fed to the mains. It has turned out however that most of the kids quickly loose interest in the display also because it is not really plain.

The readout system "VisiKid" is an other - a new - concept of visualization: Current electrical output is clearly shown by 24 representative light bulbs (LEDs) on an analogue display: children associate electricity above all with light bulbs, which are a familiar part of ther everday lives. The greater the current plant output, the greater the number of light bulbs illuminated. Balls clearly display the energy supplied to the grid in the current month. A step motor-controlled wheel sends balls from a storage container along a ball rund and into a transparent collection container. As more and more energy is generated over the course of the month, the number of balls in the second container increases. At the end of the month, the container is tipped up, the balls returned to the top container and the digital monthly display reset to zero. There are also digital desplays showing the current output, monthly yield and total yield.

The German Pavilion

The EXPO 2010 in Shanghai presents the VisiKid in the German Pavilion. The German Pavilion has beend christened "Balancity" - a newly coined word signifying a city in balance. The message of the German Pavilion is: A city can be a good place to live - if it provides a balance between renewal and preservation, innovation and tradition, urbanity and nature, community and individual developmend and work and leisure.

The pavilion is beeing built on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, which has commissioned Koelnmesse International to coordinate the preparations for the German Pavilion and to run it. The Consortium German Pavilion EXPO 2010 Shanghai is the general contractor on the project and thus responsible for planning and building balancity. Munich-based firm Schmidhuber + Kaindl designed the pavilion architecture and is in charge of planning it. Milla und Partner from Stuttgart is responisble for designing the exhibition and multimedia features. NUSSLI (Germany), bas in Roth near Nuremberg, is managing the project and performing the construction work.