Weird and Wacky Engineering
GravityLight – What a GREAT idea!
Clive Maxfield
1/3/2013 11:03 AM EST
My inventor friend Brian LaGrave just pointed me at a really interesting project called GravityLight. This is hosted on indiegogo.com, which is similar to Kickstarter.com, the main difference (as far as I can see) being that the folks at indiegogo.com don’t take a cut out of the project's funds.
According to the project's page, there are currently over 1.5 billion people in the World who have no reliable access to mains electricity; instead, they rely on biomass fuels (mostly kerosene) for lighting once the sun goes down.
As you will discover from the project page, burning fuels like kerosene has tremendous negative effects, including causing lung cancer, eye infections, cataracts, and severe burns from overturned kerosene lamps. The burning of Kerosene for lighting also produces 244 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide annually.
Now, if you were asked to come up with a solution, your knee-jerk reaction (like mine) might be something along the lines of using solar power to charge a battery in the day, and to then use the battery to power a LED-based light in the evening. However, one problem with this solution is that the batteries used in this sort of thing degrade really quickly. Have you ever purchased any of those solar-powered LED lights for your garden pathway? If you have, you'll know what I mean. They look great for the first couple of weeks -- then they start to dim and fail -- and they end up being a total waste of money.
The solution proposed by this project is to use gravity to power the light. The GravityLight is delivered in a bag, which you can subsequently fill with rocks or sand. It then takes only a couple of seconds to lift the bag and hang it on the GravityLight – this mass is used to generate the electricity that powers the light.
The project has already far exceeded its original funding goal and – at the time of this writing – there are still 13 days left to go. However, the fact that the project has reached its original goal doesn’t mean we shouldn’t support this effort. Any extra funds can go into research and development to further reduce the cost of the finished product.
One can pledge as little as $10. However, for a pledge of $50 you will get your own GravityLight to play with. Having been without power for more than a week myself when tornadoes devastated our area a couple of years ago, I can easily imagine how useful this would be.
I know that there are always a lot of demands on everyone's money, but I really do think that this sounds like a good cause. If nothing else, please take the time to visit the GravityLight Project Page, watch the video, read about what they are trying to do, and then maybe you can help to spread the word via your accounts on Facebook, Twirtter, LinkedIn, and so forth.
If you found this article to be interest, visit Microcontroller / MCU Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs on all sorts of "stuff" – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of designing and using microcontrollers.
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
Last but certainly not least, make sure you check out all of the discussions and other information resources at All Programmable Planet. For example, in addition to blogs by yours truly, microcontroller expert Duane Benson is learning how to use FPGAs to augment (sometimes replace) the MCUs in his robot (and other) projects.
According to the project's page, there are currently over 1.5 billion people in the World who have no reliable access to mains electricity; instead, they rely on biomass fuels (mostly kerosene) for lighting once the sun goes down.
As you will discover from the project page, burning fuels like kerosene has tremendous negative effects, including causing lung cancer, eye infections, cataracts, and severe burns from overturned kerosene lamps. The burning of Kerosene for lighting also produces 244 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide annually.
Now, if you were asked to come up with a solution, your knee-jerk reaction (like mine) might be something along the lines of using solar power to charge a battery in the day, and to then use the battery to power a LED-based light in the evening. However, one problem with this solution is that the batteries used in this sort of thing degrade really quickly. Have you ever purchased any of those solar-powered LED lights for your garden pathway? If you have, you'll know what I mean. They look great for the first couple of weeks -- then they start to dim and fail -- and they end up being a total waste of money.
The solution proposed by this project is to use gravity to power the light. The GravityLight is delivered in a bag, which you can subsequently fill with rocks or sand. It then takes only a couple of seconds to lift the bag and hang it on the GravityLight – this mass is used to generate the electricity that powers the light.
The project has already far exceeded its original funding goal and – at the time of this writing – there are still 13 days left to go. However, the fact that the project has reached its original goal doesn’t mean we shouldn’t support this effort. Any extra funds can go into research and development to further reduce the cost of the finished product.
One can pledge as little as $10. However, for a pledge of $50 you will get your own GravityLight to play with. Having been without power for more than a week myself when tornadoes devastated our area a couple of years ago, I can easily imagine how useful this would be.
I know that there are always a lot of demands on everyone's money, but I really do think that this sounds like a good cause. If nothing else, please take the time to visit the GravityLight Project Page, watch the video, read about what they are trying to do, and then maybe you can help to spread the word via your accounts on Facebook, Twirtter, LinkedIn, and so forth.
If you found this article to be interest, visit Microcontroller / MCU Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs on all sorts of "stuff" – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of designing and using microcontrollers.
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
Last but certainly not least, make sure you check out all of the discussions and other information resources at All Programmable Planet. For example, in addition to blogs by yours truly, microcontroller expert Duane Benson is learning how to use FPGAs to augment (sometimes replace) the MCUs in his robot (and other) projects.
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Paul A. Clayton
1/4/2013 3:29 PM EST
There was an article on this at The Register a few weeks ago: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/12/deciwatt_gravity_light/
One advantage of this device is that, other than the LEDs (I think), it is relatively low tech and could be mostly manufactured or at least assembled locally (an economic advantage, not just a hand-out but partly a hand-up) and quite possibly maintained/repaired locally.
I still think that the child-powered (merry-go-round) water well pumps are a little more clever in terms of exploiting an abundant energy source and providing fun.
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Steven.Herrrick
1/4/2013 9:30 PM EST
Has someone done the math on this? a 20 pound bag lifted 5 feet has 100 foot-pounds of potential energy. At an efficiency of 20%, how long will a 20ma LED provide light?
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RWatkins
1/6/2013 6:02 PM EST
Well, based on the calculator at http://convert-to.com/159/energy-units.html 100 ft-lb = 135.58 J, and by my calculations a 3V LED powered by a 100% efficient generator that draws 20 mA will stay lit for 37.7 minutes. I would estimate for the 3-LED system shown with a 50% efficient power conversion system would give about 6 minutes of light per 5 foot 100 pound lift. That is some big bag to hold 100 lb. The Gravity Light web page talks about a 20-pound weight, and says 18 to 30 minutes of light output per lift. I agree something seems a little off...
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ost
1/7/2013 3:35 AM EST
In total darkness, you dont need 3 led's at 20mA.. I'm pretty sure 3 leds at 20mA would blind you. It would be more useful to get this amount of light spread on a large area, but that is a different challenge.
Dont forget to compare it to the current alternative, not to a modern flashlight.
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ost
1/7/2013 3:26 AM EST
Simple and Genious! :)
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Ralph E_#1
1/7/2013 12:02 PM EST
Hello Max,
Nice going.
I think you just cost me $50.00. :-)
Just too good an investment to pass up. Also, I want one to play with.
Cheers,
Ralph
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GerardS
1/9/2013 3:35 AM EST
I feel the term Gravity Light is a bit mis-leading. Indeed, this light is powered by burning of bio-mass - the difference being that the bio-mass must comply to human nutritional standards and is burnt inside a human body.
While this may look as an advantage in obesity-ridden countries like USA or Western Europe, I feel this may be look quite different for those countries which are currently using kerosene-lamps or open fires for lighting ..
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Elukac
1/9/2013 8:19 AM EST
Pulsing the LED (at a high enough freq to avoid flickering) will extend the duration for the same amount of energy.
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IDontUseTheForumSoWhyAmIForcedToMakeANickname
1/9/2013 10:07 AM EST
At first glance, it reminded me of a cuckoo clock and the weight mechanism that drives it. The idea is so deceptively simple that it makes me wonder why I didn't think of it. And it's rechargeable too (in a convoluted lifting soft of way).
Brilliant! While the principle is not innovative, using it for lighting is. Expect some sort of spin-off to take advantage of naturally occurring forces instead of using human energy ... tidal and air pressure changes come to mind, or perhaps the Seebeck effect could be used when day changes to night.
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comuller
1/9/2013 7:27 PM EST
Nothing new, look at this project: http://www.core77.com/competitions/greenergadgets/projects/4306/
It never made it to production, reasons outlined above. Please note, that the "Gravity Light' people won't say anything about the energy generated by the device (other than it won't charge an iPhone). It don't doubt that it will generate some light, but whether this is enough to allow people to read is more than questionable.
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green_is_now
1/10/2013 4:46 PM EST
Work is work on any continent.
LED's are the best choice no matter where you get the energy.
One of those cheap shake lights or one of the wind up gyro type with supper cap work for up to a minute if really wound up.
So a 20 lb bag would seem to provide more if geared correctly.
A mechanism like a giant grandfather clock with bigger weight would seem to be a good solution. Easily. if convientently located next to the recliner is the pull chain for the counter weight would allow one to keep reading that book you just cant put down!
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green_is_now
1/10/2013 4:55 PM EST
Rather than just a light, include a cell phone (USB)charger station.
If you make a means to autoload the next 20lb sack, you can store up your weights for longer operation. concievably for many hours.
Include a quick stop start pin when it is time to go to sleep. pull pin in morning have light to wake up by.
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green_is_now
1/10/2013 4:58 PM EST
Gravity pulls us down
Ideas lift us up
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green_is_now
1/10/2013 5:27 PM EST
Light by developed coutries with infrastructure like distributed power is not the same as the needs and level of lumins people in developing countries need.
this is the wrong comparison.
Think camping...
On the other end of the spectrum is zero light.
No real windows perhaps...
there is this reality,
Any light is better than no light.
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