A levitating light bulb invented by a 19-year-old student from the University of Queensland has been singled out as an exciting industry innovation by an American lighting firm.
Chris Rieger鈥檚 invention , which hovers below a ceiling while glowing, has been viewed more than 330,000 times on , spawning features by the and numerous international .
Now US lighting company Bulb America says they are keen to see how the innovative project might shape up for commercial production .
Mr Rieger鈥檚 device combines wireless power transfer and magnetic levitation, a combination of the two technologies that is believed to be an industry first.
鈥淭his project came to life when I saw Jeff Lieberman鈥檚 implementation of it a few months before starting my prototype,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 was fascinated and started research on building my own, reading up on pretty much every project that included wireless power transfer or magnetic levitation.鈥�
A second year electrical engineering student, Mr Rieger said he worked on it for about six months while studying at university.
鈥淲hat I found is that there are many existing projects of both wireless power transfer or magnetic levitation, but only a few have combined both these technologies,鈥� he said.
鈥淥nce you have both working, it鈥檚 really just a matter of overlaying them. The high frequency magnetic field generated from the wireless power transfer circuit does not affect the levitation aspect of the build.鈥�
The budding inventor has already begun work on a new and improved prototype of the LevLight, featuring a new levitator, which is designed to have greater strength and a better control system.
Media: Madelene Flanagan, 宅男导航 School of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, (07 3365 8525 or m.flanagan@uq.edu.au)
Chris Rieger, electrical engineering student, ice@live.com.au
