I am a big fan of crank radios and other devices which harness renewable energy in practical ways. So, I was thrilled to see a masters student who harnessed the power of gravity to produce light.
The LED lamp, named Gravia, is an acrylic column a little more than 4 feet high. The entire column glows when activated by electricity generated by the slow, silent fall of a mass that spins a rotor.Here is hoping this invention is snapped up by the third world as a cheap and renewable way to produce light without oil or toxic batteries.
The light output of 600-800 lumens lasts about four hours.
To "turn on" the lamp, the user moves weights from the bottom to the top of the lamp and into a mass sled near the top. The sled begins its gentle glide down and, within a few seconds, the LEDs are illuminated.
2 comments:
This could be great for a front porch or end of driveway light. Just turn it over when you leave the house and it will shut off automatically.
I wonder if it could be easily adapted into a more focussed desk-lamp for reading?
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