There are 3 different languages outside of the Package. They are Chinese, Thai, Korean. Ikea may sell the same quality products in above countrys.
The sophisticated modren electrical grid gives us acces to power almost everywhere and any time. It is hard to image life without electricity even for a single day.
There might be some situations like storms, floods, war, or disasters where t there will be server interrepution in power supply. Small Electrical Generator are very helpful for someone in case of emergency situations.
It can also tech kid to learn to generate the power, what is more, it may be helpful for the poor Children to learn at night!
Recently, I buy one Hand Crank Flashlight from IKEA. It is 29.9 RMB (about $4).Rotating the crank 30 times gives 90 seconds of light, according to the description.
I am courious that how long have been in the market? When I search in the Amazon.com(2017-04-01), it has been selled 5 years ago! Price from IKEA.com is $5.99. The price in the Amazon.com is 14.99$! Too too expensive.
If you find this on the ebay, it is more expensiver!
Finally, I think we can learn to know how to trnasfer the energy conversion in the world.
By check the infomation. You can not see the wattage out of the package! I gusess IKEA considerS this is a toy NOT a LED flashlight. Below is Infomation of this flashlight. The GB 6675 seris are code of safety standard and similar with ISO 8124. The most rigorous standard in this toy safety standard is Europe 71. Keep away the PCB part from the kid due to it contains LEAD
| Item | Descriptioin |
|---|---|
| Brand | IKEA |
| Model/SKU | m101/701.935.33 |
| Dimension | L:17 cm; OD: 6.5 cm |
| Light Source | SMD LED |
| Life | 20000 Hours |
| CCT | 3000 K |
| Standard | GB 6675.1-2014, GB6675.2-2014, GB6675.3-2014, GB6675.4-2014,GB 18965-2005 |
There are 3 different languages outside of the Package. They are Chinese, Thai, Korean. Ikea may sell the same quality products in above countrys.
Below pictures showed the detail of the packages.
Pagckage Side View
Pagckage Side View
Package Side view.
Instruction drawing to push the button to light it on.
This side of package is empty.
Unbox the package, the design looks good.
It is said that this type is made in the army!!Experiments with flashlights without batteries were made by the United States Army some years ago, reported by Popular Science Monthly.
From the WIKI, this is hot thing in the World War I.
Form the Popular Science, you can see the picture, Tiny Dynamo is published for commercial use on February 1929. At that time, the Army was considering discarding batteries entirely.
It is hard to image without light now. But when sometimes wehen going to camp or hiking, we may need this type of light, evenmore, we need a charger to other tools in the ourdoor, such as phone.
Screen Shot Form Popular Science
There are some batteries power LED torched but the battary can only last for few hour. We learn the physics, know the chemical energy transfer to Light energy. And for this product, With very simple hardware and construction process, hand crank generator can be used to generate small power that can be used for long time.
This IKEA flashlight, we put the mechanicl energy to electrical enegry and Heat energy, then electrical energy to light energy and Heat engrgy. Energy Flow Diagram for an Energy Conversion Device From Psu.edu
It is simple to know the energy transfer, and we can easily find similar products. Sometime, someone has make great hand crank. Now, here is another Hand Crank Generator, without capacitor and diode. But the look is not good in my opinion.
There are other types of flashlight on the market. How about wind energy?
Below is an example of an energy flow diagram for a light globe being powered by a wind generator.
How about the human body heat energy to the light energy? It sounds soooo crazy!!
somes years ago, a high school student, named Ann Makosinski from St. Michaels University School in Victoria, British Columbia, had invented an LED device that uses body heat to light up.
This has much of the challenge to do with the fact that electricity producted from residual thermal energy is usually too weak to run most common devices.
This product has long way to go!!
Remove the diffuser, you can see the transparent lens and refelector(maded of ABS material), there are 3 small power LEDs mounting on the plastice board.
On the other side, we remove the cover, find the Plastic Gears and DC motor. You can easily find Green PCB, it is the power source, which is fixed by screws.
Diffuser Part.
Light Source Part.
The motor has 3 output wires, it is Brushless AC Generator.
There are 1 super capacitor, 2 resistors and 6 diodes on the PCB. We can see the supper capactior, 1F /5.5 V. The diode is placed between caoacitor and motor, due to the charactor of the diode, the charge from the capacitor can not flaw back to the DC motor.
PCB rear View
PCB Back View
I do not how to draw the diagram, and though it is motor with 3 wire ouput, it's principle is same.
when the wheel of the geared DC motor is cranked, DC current is generated in the motoe termminals. As these terminals are connected to a super capacitor, it begins charging.
A diode is placed between the super capacitor and motor so that the charge.
From Electronicshub.com
Test Voltage and Current by the multimeter,voltage : 2.5 - 2.9 Vdc, Current: 20 mA, the power is less than 1 W.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Motor | 1 PCS |
| Plastic Gears For Motor | 3 PCS |
| Wheel with crank | 1 PCS |
| Diode | 6 PCS |
| Super Capacitor | 1 PCS, 1F, 5.0 V |
| LED | 3 PCS |
| Resistor | 2 PCS |
| Switch | 1 PCS |
All Part View
It is awesome product. We can learn a lot things. Now I may have questoin:
Can this IKEA flashlight generate more enough higher voltage so that the CFL/Incandescent Bulb/LED bulb light up.
It has it disvantange! Sure No.
I think we can try the hight voltage hand Crank Genernater. For example, 220 Vac, or 120 Vac. We can ride the crank, above picture. It is cool.
Another questions are coming:
What is the least amount of work to turn the light on? Is there any product on the market?....
We may need a power monito to measure the data. And be safety, because the voltage is dangous. What is the good/effective way to generate the power?
I find some brands on the market. The best Hand Crank Generator seems "K-Tor® Pocket Socket", 10 W for $50. 20 W for even $200.
I may got mad about this price!!! It is too expensive.
WOW! That is lot thing to learn in the future!
Wind energy: Energy flow diagrams
This Flashlight Is Powered by the Touch of Your Hand
Mechanically powered flashlight
Tiny Dynamo Operates New Batteryless Flashlight
Light Bulb Efficiency and Hand Crank Energy Generation
Hand Crank Generator – K-Tor® Pocket Socket
Hand-Cranked Generator: Getting a Feel For Electrical Energy
PERHAPS THE SIMPLEST HOMEMADE ELECTRICAL GENERATOR IN THE WORLD
Undergraduate Year 1 Physics Notes
Hand Crank Generator – K-Tor® Pocket Socket
IKEA Ljusa hand powered flashlight
Hack Ikea Ljusa Crank LED Flashlight Into an Emergency USB Charger