Adjustable Downlight Development

Problem / objective

Support an adjustable product that needed to move through a wide range while fitting through a constrained ceiling opening and meeting thermal requirements.

Design process

• Evaluated rotational and tilt motion at a high level.
• Developed a way to check the interference envelope through a three-inch opening.
• Built prototypes and iterated on tooling for manufacturing use.

Technical decisions

• Used physical evaluation and experimentation to complement CAD work.
• Built a functional steel prototype when the intended sheet-metal version was unavailable.

Testing & validation

Conducted multiple long-duration thermal experiments and used measured data to guide design changes.

Results

• Improved thermal performance by approximately 20%.
• Increased manufacturing-tool capacity by approximately four times while reducing operator handling.

Challenges

Balancing motion, packaging, thermal performance, and manufacturability in a constrained product envelope.

What I learned

How closely design, prototyping, testing, and manufacturing decisions influence one another during product development.