15-year-old wins $25,000 scholarship for inventing a flashlight that runs on the body heat of the hand holding it
Remember that potato clock you made for your high school science
fair? Apparently, the bar has been raised quite a bit. Ann Makosinski, a
15 year old student from Canada, made a flashlight for her science fair
project – a flashlight powered entirely by the body heat of the hand
holding it. To be fair to the rest of us, though, this wasn’t any old
science fair; this was the Google Science Fair, a global competition that brings out the best and brightest in the 13 to 18 age range.
Makosinski used Peltier tiles to create the flashlight. These tiles
produce electricity when they are heated on one side and cooled on the
other. A temperature difference of just five degrees is enough to power
the LED bulb on the Hollow Flashlight. When the ambient temperature is
colder, the flashlight will receive more power from the user’s body heat
and provide more light. The average amount of electricity generated by
palm heat was about 57 milliwatts in tests, and only about half a
milliwatt is required to light the LED.
The Peltier tiles are arranged around a hollow aluminum tube – hollow
so that the inside can receive air that will cool the backs of the
tiles. In tests, the flashlight worked for around 30 minutes, but its
useful time could vary widely depending on ambient temperatures. If the
flashlight were ever to be mass produced for sale, Makosinski says that
she would make some tweaks to her prototype design to make the light
more durable and efficient.
Part of Makosinski’s inspiration for the project was her desire to
reduce the use of disposable batteries. These single-use power sources
are toxic and can leak harmful chemicals into the ground. But her
invention can also be priceless in parts of the world where access to
electricity is scarce. The inventor’s interest in harvesting sustainable
energy that would ordinarily be wasted won her a $25,000 scholarship
from Google.
Category: Scholarships
