sunLight is another product in the Core77 Design Competition that I wrote about a handful of days ago – a product that integrates form and function well, utilizing a solar panel in a flexible “roll” to form the flashlight shape. The LED modules that insert into the roll also hold a charge controller and the batteries – AAA cells.
I like this design! From the competition website for sunLight:
sunLight represents a unique type of product. It embodies all aspects, such as generation, storage and consumption of electrical energy in one unit. sunLight reduces rubbish. It is designed for a long lifecycle without the need to remove or change any elements. In the case of malfunction, parts can be replaced easily, decreasing costs for service. All that sunLight needs to work is solar energy – you simply unfold it so that solar cell film is exposed to the sun and the enegry will recharge the batteries. Received power can be used in different ways, as a flashlight or for loading up connected gadgets (mobile phones or music players, for example).
sunLight is scaleable. The standard configuration embeds 6 modules, each of which consists of an LED unit and 2 AAAA rechargeable batteries. Furthermore, one of modules holds a charge controller. For more or less luminance/capacity, the size of solar cell film and with it the number of LED-battery modules can be varied proportionally. A low number of components reduces the production costs; production of different sizes requires just one new tool for the base material. Except for the batteries, all parts could be made of recyclable polymers.
