ELECTROPHORUS - My new Lamp

Welcome to BLF Barou :slight_smile:
Very nice Lantern. Does it use more than 1 Peltier ?:beer:
I will bet you have taken it apart a time or two. It is definitely a keeper. :sunglasses:

I hope you have fun here, Barou!

Thanks guys for your kind words.

I intend to build a blog with a full technical description of those Thermo-lanterns.
A patent is already filed, so there is no reason to hold anything back.

My goal is to give it a shot for fundraising at Kickstarter. (either for making steampunk thermo-lanterns as those depicted, but more refined i guess or to go mainstream and develop cheaper thermo-lanterns in greater production like an alternative to mantle lanterns for general use or indoor use)

Their advantage is less power consumption almost 1/3 of fuel for equal luminosity (for current efficiencies) , not very hot spots on that lamps, low glare, subtleness
Their disadvantage obviously is their complexity.

Time will tell.


Just to answer the curious ones, it employs just one 40x40mm TEG element (Peltier) by II-VI Marlow.
Steampunk is only for the looks. It is a really functional piece as already told.

No, the light is not electronically dimmable. It is analogic dimmable :slight_smile: by just turning the flame down. It takes a bit to do so due to thermal inertia, but who is in a hurry?
Those lamps have been made so as to be also power generators( 4 watts out max) (because i could :slight_smile: )

Circuit employs OP-AMPs, for dynamic impedance matching, a 2 stage boost converter (in that version) for a low voltage output rail and a higher voltage output rail, a burner fan regulator (knob on right side), USB voltage regulator etc.

The circuitry is totally custom made - hand drawn concept, components searched in databases and purchased, arranged and tested at breadboard, then Eagle drawn to specific pcb dimensions, PCB printed, hand soldered, debugged, proceed to version 2, version 3 etc
i have some experience in custom made circuitry, but it takes me a while to do properly.

Besides electronics, a lot of those lamps parts had to be created and refined by experimentation, as the heat exchanger, the chimney, or the burner.
Great efforts were given for achieving efficiency in every aspect of it, having the final look in mind always.

When you are ready to sell, I will be there. :smiley:

Awesome job! reminds me of the Apocalypse lantern i built a few years back. :+1:

That is a work of beautiful art!

They look fantastic, and kerosene powered, so cool!

Very cool!

Hello,
The time is about right.

I am launching a crowdfunding campaign Octomber 2021 in order to bring my lamps to production.

Campaign’s main theme is my thermoelectric lamp model
Also will be available the electrified lamps (converted per specs)

Learn more at

www.baroulamps.com (thermoelectric lamps)
https://electrified.baroulamps.com/ (electrified lamps)

Cheers,
Barou

Dude, you are an artist and a light master! I have a couple of old railway light the I would love to mod but I am afraid to tinker with.

Hello mattlward,

Thank you for your kind words.
As everything in life, you start small and keep going

Cheers,
Barou

It looks beautiful. Love the steampunk aspect of it. Absolutely fantastic.

Thank Unheard you for your kind words.

If you would like them, consider supporting us in the upcoming campaign.
thanks


If you like the steampunk aspect of those, i believe you will find interesting my future plans…

Cheers,
Barou

Hello,

The campaign is live at:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/barou/barous-lamps
Feel free to have to visit and support.

I really love this concept! So much heat energy is lost from flame, so it makes a poor means of illumination. Using that heat to power LED bulbs is clever.

I wonder if there may be a way to further optimize this. The wick flame component is exposed and gives off light, but would it make sense to totally contain this part, whereby no heat escapes (e.g. no glass) and the sole source of light is from the LED bulbs? Also, within the “furnace” component, you could incorporate a piezo electric spark generator, so that no matches are required.

Myself as well :beer:

Hello nbjly,

My campaign is live in kickstarter as mentioned above. It is a pre-sale scheme more or less for reasons explained there.
Feel free to participate and eventually get one.

Link here —> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/barou/barous-lamps

Thanks
Barou


@Xevious,
Thank you for the suggestions.

First, in that lamp the flame is wonderful to look at. If you hide the flame… or just make it a complete combustion’s blue flame then half of the magic is lost. Look my views on flame and burner here: The Burner - Barou's Thermoelectric Lamps

I am really considering in my next models having an AAA battery for easier start-up, but again i am double thinking against making the lamp more complex and stealing the firing up ritual.

Lastly, with kerosene or liquid wax as a fuel, a piezo throwing a spark would not do the trick. It takes a mini high voltage transformer, and a robust li-ion cell so as to provide a streamer of high voltage thus igniting the wick. Can be done of course, but i would prefer this to happen in a future thermo-model like a chandelier.

As always, suggestions are a pleasure.

Cheers,
Barou

Love this! :+1:

Thank you DBSAR for your support!

Hello all,

it is more than 10 days now and so far two brave backers support my new lamp design.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/barou/barous-lamps

A big thank to them!

With the right project push, maybe soon many of you can witness the magic of a working Electrophorus lamp.

Once you see it going , it will change your definition of a kerosene lamp. :slight_smile:

cheers,

Barou