A clever group of eleventh-grade students from the Philippine Science High School-Western Visayas Campus (PSHS-WVC) has created a device that converts sound to electricity and can power light bulbs!
The Creators
The brains behind this inventive gadget are students Kirsten Dianne Delmo, Nico Andrei Serrato, Joecile Faith Monana, Frelean Faith Engallado, and Raphael Francis Dequilla. The five students even won the Silver Award during the Young Inventors Challenge 2019 in Malaysia for their invention.
According to the students, they are aware that converting noise to electricity isn’t a new concept but no infrastructure has been made applying this concept yet.
How Does It Work?
The device is like the opposite of a standard musical speaker, however, rather than using power to emit sound, the inside of the speaker is equipped with magnets and coils that generate electricity when they are hit by sound waves. The electrical energy is then stored in a power bank that could power lights.
As a bonus, the device is inexpensive to make. According to Manilla Bulletin, their “S-Light” invention only cost about $4 (P200 pesos), which was mostly spent on capacitors.
The only downfall is the gadget typically only generates enough electricity to power a small 5 Watt LED bulb. However, it could potentially prove to be an invaluable source of energy and lighting for rural areas. The device’s technology could also be scaled up to generate even larger amounts of energy from places that are noisier such as airport runways, populated roads, and construction sites.
Additionally, if a larger speaker was made with a lot more devices added it could potentially harness enough electricity for whole communities.
Future Plans
This inexpensive S-Light could possibly be the solution for rural communities to be able to have access to electricity, thus, improving their way of life.
The students now hope to use their education and technological experience to further develop the device and use it to help the Filipino people.
