Energy Harvesting Soccer Ball

New soccer ball, called the sOccet ball, generates enough energy to light up a home.

ThisĀ invention was developed by four students from Harvard University in partnership with the Laboratory at Harvard Think-Tank; it’s a soccer ball which they call the sOccet that generates electricity from normal kicking during game play.

The ball has a built-in inductive coil that collects kinetic energy. After about 15 minutes of kicking the ball around it will produce enough electricity to charge LED lights, batteries, and even cellular phones.

The creators of the sOccket claim that any child can take the ball home as an outlet to read, study and even light up the home.

The ball uses an inductive coil mechanism which functions similar to flashlights where the movement and kinetic energy of the ball forces a strong magnet to move back and forth producing a current and inducing voltage in the coil to generate electricity.

The ball weighs about the same as a standard soccer ball and would yield no significant change in the field of soccer.

This unique feature suggests this source of energy would not require any fundamental human behavioral change.

In most African countries there is no access to electricity and more than a billion people around the world rely entirely on kerosene to light their homes.

There is a need for inexpensive green inventions that provide off-grid energy solutions for developing regions such as Africa.

Capitalizing on the kinetic energy spent on sports and recreation is a creative and smart means of collecting energy.

Thus sOccket is a source of clean energy derived from a healthy activity. It is designed for use in resource-poor settings where access to electrical grids is limited or nonexistent.

The Team is exploring ways to incorporate the highest quality, lowest cost materials and they plan to explore materials local to Africa with which to construct the ball, as well as ball designs which will be durable in harsh conditions of dust, rain, and heat.

 

For more information please visit:

http://www.energyharvestingjournal.com

http://large.stanford.edu

http://www.inventor-strategies.com

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