Teen Invents Flashlight

    • rohit.david@timesgroup.com
    • Publish Date: May 27 2016 4:15PM
    • |
    • Updated Date: Jun 7 2016 2:37PM
Teen Invents Flashlight

A teenager from Canada has come up with flashlights that don’t require batteries. Ann Makosinski, designed what she calls a “hollow flashlight” which transforms the heat from your palm into a source of energy. Makosinski talks to Times NIE about her invention...

How did a science project turn into a new invention?
I had done a science fair project in class VIII using Peltier tiles (A Peltier tile absorbs heat and produces electricity). I decided to harvest human heat using Peltier tiles, and demonstrate its effect with a flashlight.
 
What motivated you to come up with this unique idea?
I wanted to create a flashlight that runs solely on the heat of the human hand. I also aimed to eliminate batteries in flashlights. I have been to the Philippines numerous times and in some of the villages, there’s no electricity. I realised that many students didn’t do well there simply because they didn’t have any power at home. Imagine what a difference this flashlight could have in people’s lives!
 
Give us an insight into the working of this flashlight?
Well, I used the ‘Seebeck effect’ on the Peltier tiles. This means that if you heat one side of the Peltier tiles and cool the other side, electricity is produced. In my case, I heated one side of the tile with the palm of my hand, and cooled the other side with just the ambient air and some sort of heat sink (a component designed to lower the temperature of an electronic device by dissipating heat into the surrounding air). I took the output from the Peltier device and ran it through a simple voltage converter circuit, and the LEDs lit up.
 
At any point, did you feel that the idea may fail?
To some extent yes. While I was designing the flashlight, my biggest challenge was to have an efficient cooling system for one side of the Peltier device. Another problem I had was that after conducting a characterisation test of the Peltier tiles, I found that they produced enough power, but the voltage was low. I fixed this problem with a circuit.  The flashlight currently produces light up to a distance of five feet. That is not very bright, but enough to read and do simple tasks. 
 
How do you plan to market this flashlight?
Currently, my flashlight is best suited for emergency kits. I would also like to see them made cheaply and easily available to those who cannot afford or who do not have access to electricity. The whole concept by itself, its unique cooling system and the circuit, also hold a lot of potential in themselves in other scientific fields. I’m planning to patent my idea too.

KNOW HER

HOBBIES: Piano, field hockey, singing, dancing, reading, photography and watching movies.
ACHIEVEMENTS: Gold Medal and the Energy Achievement Award in the Canada Wide Science Fair this year. 
INSPIRATION: Motivated by the music of Pandit Ravi Shankar whom she had met many times in India & US. 

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Comments

Rajathariga S P AECS MAGNOLIA MARUTHI PUB SCH

ingenious!

Harini MS NAGARJUNA VIDYANIKETAN

An indirect and unique implementation of the concept of renewable energy. Sweet!

Brenda Marshal PADUA HIGH SCHOOL-MANKHURD

WOW!!

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