It’s incredibly frustrating to find yourself without a light when you really need it. I’m sure many of us have faced this situation—like when the family flashlight runs out of power just when you need it most. But what if you could light it up with just a breath? South Korean 3D printing enthusiast Tim Cho has come up with an innovative solution: a 3D-printed flashlight that can be powered by blowing into it, turning frustration into relief.
Tim’s original idea was to create a wind-powered LED flashlight for the “Catch The Wind†design challenge hosted by MakerBot in June. The competition encouraged participants to use 3D printers to explore wind energy. However, after seeing many similar entries, he decided to pivot. Instead of a wind-powered model, he designed a flashlight that uses “mouth forceâ€â€”essentially, you blow into it to generate power. This unique twist caught a lot of attention and made his project stand out.
The most distinctive feature of his design is the mouth-blown component, which resembles a large whistle. He created the entire flashlight using Autodesk Inventor software, consisting of 15 different 3D-printable parts. Each part takes about 30 minutes to print, and with a layer height of 0.2 mm and a 25% infill rate, the whole assembly took around 7.5 hours. Once printed, some electronic components are needed for the final build, such as coils, magnets, a bridge rectifier, an LED, and wires.
So how does this battery-free flashlight actually work? According to Tim, when you blow into the port, the internal vertical shaft windmill spins, causing the magnet in the generator to rotate. Since the windmill shaft is directly connected to the generator, this motion creates alternating current (AC) in the coil. A bridge rectifier then converts this AC into direct current (DC). While a single breath produces around 0.5 to 1 volt, it’s not enough to power an LED, which typically needs about 3 volts. To solve this, Tim incorporated a Joule thief circuit, allowing the flashlight to function efficiently.
Despite being unemployed, Tim continues to experiment with the possibilities of 3D printing. For this project, he humorously noted that the biggest downside is the potential dizziness from blowing too long. Still, his creative approach proves that sometimes, thinking outside the box—literally—can lead to something truly useful and inspiring.
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