Mipwr Dynamo cases slide onto an iPhone's battery charging point and either store energy that can be used as a backup - adding two hours of extra charge - or contains a hidden lever that can be squeezed by hand to generate electricity.
Its Illinois-based inventors claim squeezing the lever produces electricity by electromagnetic conduction inside the case, and a minute of squeezing gives an extra 30 seconds of charge.
Designers Bob Panos and Karl Lee have now set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of their Mipwr cases.
- HOW DOES MIPWR WORK?
The Mipwr Dynamo case is an all-in-one protective case, backup battery, and hybrid charger.
It contains a 400 mA battery and a concealed push lever that, when pumped, generates electricity, and charges the internal battery.
The electricity created by squeezing the lever is produced by electromagnetic conduction.
A voltage is created when a magnet is moved into a coil of wire.
The direction of the voltage is reversed when the magnet is removed from the coil again.
If the coil is part of a circuit then the current will pass into this electrical circuit.
Mipwr Dynamo is an all-in-one protective case, backup battery, and hybrid charger.
The case contains a 400 mA battery and a concealed push lever that, when pumped, generates electricity, and charges the internal battery.
The electricity created by squeezing the lever is produced by electromagnetic conduction.
The top of the case comes off and the iPhone slides into the bottom and connects to the phone's battery charging point. A battery inside the case can be charged by plugging it into the mains.
When connected to the mains, the electricity charges the case and phone battery simultaneously.
At any point after the phone has been removed from charge, the case can be used as a backup battery by switching a lever on the side.
The phone then swaps from using its own battery's energy, to using the energy stored in the case.
Once all that energy has run out, the lever can be popped out from inside the case and squeezed to generate extra charge.
According the Kickstarter campaign: 'In the event you exhaust both the phone battery and Mipwr's backup battery - that will give you two extra hours of talk time - you can pump the push lever to produce 30 seconds of talk or text time for 1 minute of pumping.
'These efforts will create enough battery power to make a distress call or text at a moment's notice.'
The first batch of cases will be available for the iPhone 4, 4S and 5.
The campaign runs until 19 October and Panos and Lee are asking for $78,000 (£48,500) in funding to get the project off the ground.
If this is successful, the initial cases will cost $25 (£15.50).
There are already cases that double up as backup batteries on the market, including Mophie.
Mophie cases come in a range of colours and cost from around £50. Its maker claims they offer around 80 per cent more battery life.
Another hand-powered charger that successfully reached its Kickstarter funding was SOSReady in April.
The device plugs into a phone using a charging wire and electricity is created in a base unit by cranking a handle.
The SOSReady devices are on sale now for $29.95 (£18).
No comments:
Post a Comment