Dynamo powered ultraviolet water purification system

摘要

A system and method for powering an ultraviolet (UV) water purification system utilizing a dynamo. A dynamo, operably attached to the UV water purification system, generates power from a rotatable crank which is actuated by a user around an axis of the rotatable crank. When the crank is rotated, the dynamo produces an electrical current that activates and powers the UV lamp, which in turn, produces UV light to purify the water. To ensure that the water has been purified appropriately, a microcontroller, employed within the UV water purification system, tracks both the “on” time and the intensity of the UV lamp as the dynamo is cranked. Once the lamp has been “on” at a sufficient intensity and for an appropriate period of time to administer a required dose of UV light, the microcontroller disables the lamp and provides the user with notification that the process has completed.

主权项

1. An ultraviolet (UV) water purification system, comprising:
a dynamo operatively connected to a rotatable crank to provide an electrical current to lamp drive circuitry in the UV water purification system, when the rotatable crank is actuated by a user around an axis of the rotatable crank; a UV lamp operatively interconnected to the lamp drive circuitry, the lamp drive circuitry providing drive current to the UV lamp in response to the electrical current produced by the dynamo, and the UV lamp producing UV light to purify water surrounding the UV lamp in response to the driving current; and a microcontroller operatively employed within the lamp drive circuitry between the dynamo and the UV lamp, the microcontroller configured to: (1) track both an on time and an intensity of the UV lamp to ensure an adequate dose of UV light is administered to the water surrounding the UV lamp, where the on time tracked by the microcontroller is an amount of time that the UV lamp is supplied the electric current above a predetermined minimum threshold required to produce a minimum intensity from the UV lamp, (2) increase a counter in response the electrical current being above the predetermined minimum threshold required to output the minimum intensity from the UV lamp, (3) pause the counter at a last count value when the electrical current drops below the predetermined minimum threshold required to output the minimum intensity from the UV lamp, (4) resume increasing the counter from the last count value when the electrical current is again above the predetermined minimum threshold required to output the minimum intensity from the UV lamp, where the counter is increased until a predetermined value has been reached, and (5) turn off the UV lamp in response to the counter reaching the predetermined value.