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Google Science Fair Finalist Invents Peltier-Powered Flashlight
GTRacer writes "Ann Makosinski, a Canadian student competing in Google's Science Fair, submitted a flashlight which uses temperature differentials to power its LEDs. Her long-time interest is alternative energy because, '[she's] really interested in harvesting surplus energy, energy that surrounds but we never really use.' Using Peltier tiles and custom circuitry, her design currently runs for 20 minutes or so and costs $26. A win at the September finals in Mountain View and/or outside investment could fund further development."
Will not work so great with a 2 degree delta T
She "invented" it by finding an circuit online, copying it, and buying some Peltier tiles off of eBay? WTF?
So if you're hanging around the desert and the ambient temp is warmer than your hand, will it make things darker? That would be cool.
-- "Oh. This guy again."
Does she put it in the fridge before using it or something?
Or does it use the difference in temperature between your hand and the flashlight.
Also, since this is generating electricity from a temperature differential, rather than generating a temperature differential from electricity, wouldn't this be the Seebeck effect?
Someone told me this girl will become a billionaire if she can figure out how to make a heat-based car engine out of Peltier tiles. I replied with a long sigh and this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine The Stirling engine was invented in 1816.
Nope. I guess we're both spending too much time on the Internet.
This reminds me of Quantum Paleontology...."throw the switch, energy crisis averted."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLoOI5Laplo
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
Makosinski admitted there were points in the experiment when she thought it would never work, but said "You just kind of have to keep going.
Way more important lesson than the circuit design.
Being able to get light out of such a tiny current source as a thermocouple is amazing. Since it's just two dissimilar metals in electrical contact to provide the electricity there's plenty of scope to improve the design and get something mass produced for a lot less than $26.
The summary may confuse people since they may be thinking of peltier cooling, which is providing electricity to create a temperature difference, but the same hardware produces electricity from a temperature difference (and is normally known as a thermocouple in that mode).
The thing her presentation is missing is any acknowledgment that she has actually learned something, and realizes now that her flashlight is a neat little science trick, but otherwise terribly impractical.
It only works for a few minutes, as the flashlight heats up to match your body temperature, and wouldn't work at all where ambient temps are remotely similar to body temperature. She also got only a tiny amount of power and light out of it, which could be provided for weeks or months by a watch battery without the expensive peltier in the mix.
Slightly more interesting than vinegar and water mixed together in a model volcano, but the real question is whether she learned something valuable in all of this.
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This is how it starts.
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
She "invented" it by finding an circuit online, copying it, and buying some Peltier tiles off of eBay? WTF?
This stupid girl just did what every working engineer does - even the NASA engineers - take shit off the shelf and design from it!
If she was REALLY smart, she's mine her own copper, done her own research, discovered chemistry and physics on her own, and well, just did it without all this nonsense of living in an industrial society!
REAL inventors reinvent in the wheel everytime they need one!
She said she's getting about 5mw of power from it, which sounds pretty decent from just a 5 degC temperature differential *and* using circuitry to increase the voltage. Should be quite visible in the dark, even enough to read from if held close to a book. At least until the aluminum heats up from her hand and the hole in the middle turns out to be inadequate to sink enough heat to maintain the temperature differential under most conditions (though she's in Canada, so maybe that's not such a problem there :-) ).
In comparison typical 2000mAh alkaline AA cell can support 5mw for about 600 hours, but if you can't afford alkaline batteries (or are someplace where you don't have easy access to them), then this flashlight may be better than nothing. Though a crank-up generator flashlight might be brighter and more usable.
It may not save the world, but it's a great science fair project.
No, of course I haven't read TFA. I'm really not interested in expounding on what a highschooler is interested in before knowing just what this said-to-be-neat little thing is and does. I'm not here for the human interest angle on youthful inventors of gadgets.
THE GADGETS COME FIRST, DAMMIT. Editor, fire thyself.
Yes and no. I read that as "Fleshlight-powered flashlight".
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"a great source of untapped thermal energy", said The Architect, while holding an unborn human fetus.
I'm assuming it works until the temperature differential equals out to something that the peltier tiles can't use, then it has to cool off. Immediate thought was that putting it in the fridge (or better yet freezer) for a few minutes would cool down the tube and provide for an even larger temperature differential during use, until the temperature again equals out.
So, for continuous use, the obvious solution is to pack the hollow tube with a miniature refrigeration unit, run on batteries.
Waaaait a minute...
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
You know, I don't think I've ever heard someone say "too bad she's pretty" before, especially in this context.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I can not believe the comments I am reading here. There are initiatives all over the world to get more females into STEM stuff and everyone here seems to quibble about the technical details! She's a teenager. I first learned about the Peltier effect in my 4th year at University, yes that was 40 years ago. My kids didn't learn about it in their High Schools either. So much for the U.S. education system. Give the kid a break!
Dude, in a few years she'll be doing great things and you'll still be living in your parents' basement wishing you had an organic girlfriend.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
When did you last time see a pretty woman doing great things like that? Woman is either fugly and has no choice but study, or pretty and not compelled to do anything besides her hair and nails. This is the way how things are.
A photovoltaic panel would probably be far more efficient than thermal + Peltier/Seebeck for charging the battery in a solar-powered flashlight. At least all the solar-powered flashlights I could find on Google use PV.
The real question is: how much her prettiness helped her to win the Google science fair? The contest works both ways: a person who wins has his/her image associated to Google. Would Google choose a ugly person?
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
When did you last time see a pretty woman doing great things like that?
My goodness, did you go to college? Work anywhere that had employees? I've been in classes with, studied under, and worked with numerous gorgeous women. From that subset of classmates, many are doing great things today.
If you need an example from the famous super-genius echelon, the one that comes to mind most immediately would be Lisa Randall, though frankly it's the sapiosexual qualities that do it for me.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
This operates from the Seebeck effect. The Peltier effect generates temperature differentials from input electricity.
She just invented a new flashlight, and wants to use "energy that surrounds but we never really use."
Like, the energy that surrounds us and penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together? Her "long time interest" is clearly building a light saber.
Shouldn't it work as long as the ambient temperature is lower than body temperature?
Or does the battery she put in it after not getting it working in time only last that long?
Just an FYI - I knew an Oxford genetics researcher who wasreally pretty - she dyed her hair brown and wore glasses because she felt that people took her more seriously when she resorted to such tactics. Having been on the receiving end of patronising behaviour myself, I know where she's coming from. After all, when geniuses like Andy Schlafly tell us that men are more intelligent than women, who can possibly argue?
Marissa Mayer as a counter example..
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Why is this the 'real question'?
Just an FYI - I knew an Oxford genetics researcher who wasreally pretty - she dyed her hair brown and wore glasses because she felt that people took her more seriously when she resorted to such tactics. Having been on the receiving end of patronising behaviour myself, I know where she's coming from. After all, when geniuses like Andy Schlafly tell us that men are more intelligent than women, who can possibly argue?
Um, any sapient person?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Sure, but what about the republicans?
Ever have a flashlight in a car? not only do the batteries wear out but in the winter they don't work either! This thing will work well in the cold and for short periods at other times... and not at all in the summer.
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Not to be harsh but why is this on slashdot? Is it because it was invented by a young female? (If a nerdy boy with really thick glasses invented it, would people care less? Probably.)
Reasons why the light is not interesting:
1. She is using an established technology (Seebeck effect), Peltier coolers are commonplace.
2. It runs for up to 20 minutes.
3. It isn't that bright.
4. You have to have to hold it for it to work.
When I use a light to see in the dark, I generally either (a) want it to be really bright and/or (b) I don't want to hold it so that I can have my hands free to work. This device satisfies neither of those objectives.
about 8 years ago on this site. However, I was suggesting it for buoys, as well as road signs. What peltier counts on, is temp differentials. So, if a post is 3' in the ground, then the temp is normally different than air. By simply designing a system to carry heat up and down, then it is possible to get the difference. The buoy is even easier. The air is rarely the same temp as water. As such, it would be possible to charge a battery or even an ultra-cap to provide power during the x-over.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
one could call it a Fleshlight?
There are plenty of video on youtube - peltier to generate electricity
When did you last time see a pretty woman doing great things like that? Woman is either fugly and has no choice but study, or pretty and not compelled to do anything besides her hair and nails. This is the way how things are.
The most beautiful woman I ever met was a mathematician who was working on her Phd. Her idea of small talk was Pi. When she walked down a hallway every man she passed literally stopped walking as soon as she passed by and drank her in. I have never seen men behave that way, before or since.
One of my cousins is a lawyer who worked through college as a fashion model.
Perhaps one day you'll get to move out of Mom's basement.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Because Stallman.
When someone comes up with an awesome idea and wins a google award this is generally a good thing. Why is everyone trying to knock her? She's a 15 year old inventor who created something pretty awesome through a lot of tinkering, research and hard work. I can see many uses for this and would very much like to get one if they are ever mass produced.
I have a hand crank generator flashlight in my car. It had a battery but I replaced it with a super capacitor... which cost more than the cheapo flashlight.
Oh, its about 4V. Yeah, I put some contacts to the outside; I can power a cell phone, not sure how long - i didn't test it.
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Peltiers wear out over time, too. That's why stores sell replacement thermocouples for furnaces, water heaters, etc. I recently had to throw out a tiny refrigerator because the peltier gave up. They're also very finicky, and die much more quickly in humid climates, and similar.
If the spring in your dynamo flashlight is corroding, you'd have big problems with any type of flashlight, including this one, as they've all got METAL wiring throughout.
Even a tiny battery powered flashlight can put out a lot of light for several hours. This thing dies after "20 minutes or so".
It's always nice to be called an idiot by someone who is simultaneously demonstrating that they have ZERO knowledge of the topic, and also couldn't even completely read the short summary, which clearly mentioned the shortcomings.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
This was all over the internet about a week ago. Where have you been, Slashdot?
While we're at alternatively powered flashlights, here is a spring loaded one:
http://lavrans.laading.net/book/projects/Windup_Flashlight/
A bit of googling turns up this cheap IC that would do the job (it's specifically made for running USB or LED devices off of low-voltage power sources).
But kudos to her for making the thing work & winning the prize. Anything that encourages kids to get into STEM is a good thing.
A robust flashlight has to run theoretically 20 years on a charge. That is, it has to be ready to use when you want, and self-sustaining. What was this demo flashlight doing before being picked up to use for 20 minutes? Charging for 20 hours?
The whole idea of capturing and using ambient temperature differences to produce energy has to be: to produce as much as used, as its being used in the environment it is being used in.
I always wondered why this effect couldn't be used as a power source on tidally-locked bodies such as the moon. Permanent shadow keeps the cold side cold and permanent sun keeps the hot side hot.
Hmm. Maybe it isn't being proposed due to the iron-clad McDLT patent.
The Matrix is inevitable now.
She did not invent the first Peltier powered flashlight.
First, it's not Peltier effect, but the opposite, a thermocouple effect.
Next, I'm sure lots of people, like thousands, have considered powering things with thermocouples.
Going back about 100 years, old gas furnaces have had micropower thermostats, powered from a thermocouple over the furnace pilot light.
Going back 50 years, I recall a magazine article about folks in Siberia putting thermocouples around a kerosene lamp and getting enough power to run a small transistor radio.
And most of them quickly realized that thermocouples, being like 6% efficient, and putting out millivolts, were not going to be a big win. Like not being able to pay back their cost within 10 years, or ever.
In the real world, she would have followed the same path, maybe getting as far as proposing it to the marketing folks, who would haev said: An extremely weak flashlight that will have to sell for $129 to make a profit? Not likely, not even on SkyMall.
Vampires and zombies are already at room temperature; this is USELESS for them! What about THEIR flashlight needs?
Koans and fables for the software engineer
I am very sorry to see she is quite a good looking girl.
This girl is 15. Thinking she is good-looking makes you an instant pedophile. In 2.X years when she is 18, and likely looks basically the same, you're allowed to think this, but not now.
Those are the rules.
(raises hand...) Don't believe everything you hear from Piers Morgan. Actually, it's a good idea not to believe everything you hear from anyone.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I totally respect her and her accomplishments; but think it'd be better for everyone (both the field of science and the field of engineering) if they rename the contest to "Enginering Fair" if they want this kind of entry.
Flashlights are neat but there's superior technology. Charging from physically spinning a tiny alternator in current models by squeezing a trigger in the handle is far more effective and energy can be stored in gigantic capacitors instead of a battery.
What I'd like to see is a peltier tile suit that effectively cools the user. An air conditioning suit that operates based on electricity from a heat differential would be amazing. The only catch is, human skin temperature is like 82 Fahrenheit or something on average and you'd probably want cooling on a 90 degree day so technically, you'd have to reverse the tiles and grab the energy from the outside air.
While thinking about this potential technology, I noticed that if you ran an air conditioner on the inside of the suit and kept grabbing heat from outside, the temperature differential would keep rising and thus providing more cooling which would make the differential higher and soon your suit is -200 fahrenheit. It's sort of like the exact opposite of a perpetual motion or free energy device. But given enough insulation, would this magic self-sustaining coldness engine actually work?
What happens after 20 minutes? If this setup really generates enough energy, shouldn't it last indefinitely?
All shake flashlights are pretty horrible compared to old Russian squeezelights.
Just like with shakelights, quality varies, and some have batteries in them that will not last. But you can continuously use a good squeezelight for a half hour or more (depending on your hand strength - I can use mine for hours because I type a lot) and the light beam will stay focused right where you want it the whole time - which is impossible with any shakelight.
Also, since shakelights have powerful neodymium magnets in them and the housings are plastic, they screw up magnetic media (like credit cards) that get too close. The dynamos in the old no-battery Russian squeezelights never do that.
My squeezelight is at least 15 years old, and probably older, and sees regular use. I did have trouble finding a replacement for the primitive CCCP lightbulb it uses, but when I found some on eBay I bought 30 of them for a couple bucks so no worries now. The bearings in this thing are made of oiled wool, it's incredibly robust and repairable.
The only downside is dynamos are noisy, so when you're camping with the family everybody complains if you get up in the night to water the shrubbery.
I was overly distracted by heat and bowl of pisstacia icecream from abovementioned package... :)