Lumir K : Cooking Oil Powered LED Lamp

What it does

'Lumir K' has been created to solve the problem of the lack of light which is affecting many people in developing countries. Lumir K harnesses the thermal energy from used cooking oil to turn the LED on, thus eliminating the need for an external power supply.

Your inspiration

When we were travelling in India in 2014, we were shocked to find out that blackouts are so frequent and also the vast majority living in the rural regions of India and Philippines still lack regular access to electricity. And we saw many people relying on a candle or a kerosene lamp to brighten their home, but it is not sufficient to lead an everyday life. Since we wanted to create a practical and easy lighting which is accessible to everyone, we took used cooking oil as a core source for Lumir K. Cooking oil is affordable everywhere and most people in developing countries where it is very hot fry there meal to prevent from going rotten.

How it works

Lumir K uses a phenomenon known as the Seebeck Effect. The Seebeck Effect is the conversion of heat directly into electricity at the junction of different type of semi-conductor. When there are temperature difference between the joints, the electron energy levels in each metal shifted differently and a voltage difference between the junctions created an electrical current. So that's how we can turn on the LED only with the heat of the cooking oil. Also since the cooking oil is not a stable heat source, we had to stablize the thermoelectricity. By our patented technology, we could stabilizes the electrical power and makes it possible to operate by small flame without flickering. The heat from the flame rises into the heatsink, where the temperature difference occurs. Then it generates thermoelectricity which is the power for the LEDs at the top. Right above the heatsink, there is a main tube like chimney which makes proper airs to flow to support combustion.

Design process

We've developing Lumir K to the needs of real users through out the 3 times of feild tests in Terentang Hulu Villege, Indonesia. We are now on the final process of revising the product and will make the final version of Lumir K in October, 2017. The First Design - The fuel container has been customized to make it fit to Lumir K so users do not have to adjust the height. - The water-cooling system has been changed to the air-cooling system so users do not have to renew the water in the water container every 30 min to release the heat. The Second Design - The fuel container has been made translucent to check the amount of fuel left without opening the fuel container. - More holes have been added in the exterior of Lumir K to improve the efficiency of internal radiation. - The structure of light emitting part has been redesigned to gather the light in one place. The Third Design - The LED part has been made to be located far from the body of product since LED is vulnerable to heat. - The number of LEDs has been increased from 1 to 6 to make the product brighter. - The LED part has been adjustable in 360 degree to improve users' convenience. - The LED part has been made dettachable both to pack it comfortably and to protect the product against beng demaged during the delivery.

How it is different

1. Kerosene lamp 1-1. A conventional kerosene lamp has an efficiency problem. Only 10% of energy turns into the light while 90% of energy turns into heat energy and scattered into the air. This causes heavy consumption of Kerosene since people use a flame for the lighting. As a result, black carbon emission increases due to the incomplete combustion. 2. Solar lamp 2-1. A solar lamp may not fully function when sun is not out. Especially countries like Indonesia where has lot of rainy days, solar lamp may not be suitable. 2-2. Low cost film type panels have low quality so it breaks easily 2-3. Rechargeable Li-ion batteries inside the solar lamp need replacement every 1-2 years and are not easy to replace. 3. Lumir K 3-1. Unlike conventional kerosene lamps, it can save up to 80% of fuels compared to a conventional kerosene lamp. 3-2. Unlike a solar lamp, it is not weather-dependent and do not rely on batteries. 3-3. Have life expectancy of up to 20 years.

Future plans

Lumir will continue to devote ourselves to resolving the problem of the lack of light in the world, by developing efficient and innovative lighting apparatus including the upcoming low-cost model, ‘Lumir K’.

Awards

2016 KOICA CTS Program