Fil-Canadian teen inspires with Flashlight invention
By Aurora Quadra-Balibay on February 1st, 2015 under Technology Milestones
Ann Makosinski
Ann Makosinski [via Mashable]
Two years after winning the top prize at the Google Science Fair for her “Hollow Flashlight,” Filipino-Canadian Andini “Ann” Makosinski is unwavering in her efforts to get her hand heat-powered invention mass manufactured to bring light to places with no electricity.
Makosinski was awarded by Google in 2013 for the prototype of her flashlight that produces a steady beam of LED light for 20 minutes without the use of batteries or moving parts. The invention uses Peltier tiles which produce energy when one side is heated by a human hand gripping the flashlight and the other side is cooled by the ambient air in the hollow inside the flashlight.
The Google Science Fair summary of her project described the prototype. “The final design included mounting the Peltiers on a hollow aluminum tube which was inserted in a larger PVC pipe with an opening that allowed ambient air to cool the tube. The palm wrapped around a cutout in the PVC pipe and warmed the tiles. The result was a bright light at 5 degree Celcius of Peltier differential.”
Makosinski says her flashlight can produce up to 5-foot “candles of brightness” – below the commercial standard – but she says she is working to make the light brighter.
Makosinski revealed in her interviews that the science project was inspired by the plight of her Philippine-based friend who was failing in her classes because she could not study at night at her home in Mindanao where there was no electricity.
The 12th grader from Victoria, British Columbia realized then the reality for more than a billion people across the globe who had limited or no access to electricity.
In her LinkedIn profile Makosinski writes, “I am continuing to improve the body heat flashlight and make it suitable for reading. It’s aimed specifically at children in countries and villages where families don’t have, or can’t afford electricity.”
The 17-year-old Canadian national of Filipino and Polish descent maintains the blog site Annventions as a file sharing site on knowledge on thermal, solar and piezo electricity. On it she provides updates on her mission to help her generation survive the future with her body heat-powered inventions.
In her blog Makosinski gives an update on the progress of her mission, “I believe that thermoelectricity is a great source of untapped, lost energy and I am researching methods of capturing it and using it for the human good.
I believe it holds the hope of replacing batteries in certain low power applications, as well as powering flashlights. This will eventually have a significant effect on the pollution caused by used batteries in our landfills and water tables.
Currently, the major obstacle to the wide use of human heat energy, is the efficiency of the capturing and conversion technology.
My own thermoelectric flashlight is currently under development to improve efficiencies and provide a brighter light. That is not an easy task and I am pitted against limits of current technology. We have made a small production run of the flashlights which are being tested and considered for mass production by a major manufacturer.”
Makosinski’s Google Science Fair Gold Award-winning “Hollow Flashlight” was recently nominated for the 2015 Danish INDEX Awards in the Home category for her project on “Unleashing the Thermoelectric Power Inside of You.” The world’s only design award for design to be used as tool to address the world’s biggest challenges, “Design to Improve Life” carries with it a prize of 100,000 Euros for each of its 5 categories.
The INDEX nomination notes on the nominated project of the high schooler reads: “To the science community at large, it was a stroke of genius to recognize that power originates within every one of us—every day, all the time. Thermoelectricity took a step forward.”
Makosinski is reportedly also working on a new but related project of a reading light also powered by body heat.
(Viewed 78 times, 75 views today)
- See more at:
www.goodnewspilipinas.com/fil-canadian-t...sthash.IyqE5Lpi.dpuf
RollBack Rx Home EditionCategory: Business Solution
DCP-T310 Refill Tank System...Category: Printers
