light bud

When tsunami or earthquake occurs, Disconnection of electricity supply that causes blackout has been serious problem for the infrastructures such as street lights. ‘Light bud’ is a hybrid system which integrates street light with emergency beacon to make sure it is working under any circumstances. This street light consists of two parts. One is extruded aluminum column contains gas cylinder with folded inflatable and another part is detachable LED lighting head with a bracket to support when it’s in the air. In disaster scenario when electric grid is no longer available by an earthquake or tsunami, signals from the sensors activate the gas cylinder and folded balloon. Then the balloon shoot up through the head of the column and carries LED lighting module with it. Power will be provided by solar-cell layer printed on top of the balloon and rechargeable DC batteries installed at the upper part of the LED module. By taking exactly the same form factor with currently available street light systems, ‘Light bud’ will illuminate the ground just like normal street lights under the disaster situations. This will allows people orientate themselves even in the worst situations. The only difference will be the height of the light source. 2012 Braun Prize Winner. Currently, Patent pending.