Graduate student invents Gravia gravity lamp

A Virginia Tech University graduate student has created a special lamp powered by gravity of a falling object. The LED lamp stays lit for up to four hours per cycle.

Clay Moulton received his master’s degree in sciences at Virginia Tech University last year. This invention of his gained him second place in a “Greener Gadgets Conference”. Moulton's LED lamp, Gravia, has 10 LEDs built inside an acrylic column, four feet tall. The entire column lights up by the electricity generated from a slowly falling object. To turn the lamp on, a user moves weights from the bottom to the top of the lamp and the objects fall slowly down a sled, spinning a rotor and thus creating electricity. The light output is about 600 to 800 lumens and lasts about four hours for every cycle. Moulton told Physorg.com:

It's more complicated than flipping a switch…but can be an acceptable, even enjoyable routine, like winding a beautiful clock or making good coffee."

Moulton said the mechanisms inside Gravia will last more than 200 years and he has a patent pending for his model. Gravia could be used for household purposes in the night or for outdoor lighting. If they could somehow use the electricity generated to reverse the lamp automatically after the cycle is over, it can light up continuously until the end of LED’s life cycle.