Kyle Lammie travels a well-lighted path. The senior at Sylvania Northview High School is a serious cyclist who often rides after dark, when there's less traffic.
"I love biking at night," he said. "Everything from the empty streets to the cool air keeps me biking into the night."
His problem was that the flashlight he clamped to his handlebars didn't throw off the illumination he wanted, so he engineered a solution.
Kyle, a self-described "tool nerd" who is in Northview's engineering tech prep program, designed and built his own battery-powered light that can put out 1,300 lumens -- about the same brightness as his car's two headlights, he said.
Now, no matter how dark the night, he can see where he's going.
"It's a big improvement," he said. "I feel safer."
Kyle made the light in the home workshop he shares with his father, James Lammie, who is a skilled do-it-yourselfer. The 17-year-old is a whiz with technology and much sought after as the sound and light technician for school play productions in Northview's Performing Arts Center, the school's renovated theater.
For the recent production of The Wizard of Oz, he conjured up a floating head illusion that rose from fog. The special effect wowed the audience. "Kyle was the man behind the man behind the curtain," joked Nancy Crandell, a school district spokesman.
To achieve the brightness he wanted in the bike light, Kyle used three LEDs (light emitting diodes) powered by a pack of nickel-metal hydride batteries. He also used an aluminum heat sink to protect the LEDs and a device called a driver that controls the brightness settings and permits it to flash like a strobe if desired. The project involved several trips to hardware stores and ended up costing about $150.
Kyle lays out the project in meticulous detail on a Web site called instructables and includes photographs of his work in progress.
On the Web site, he describes the strobe capability at full power as a "fun feature" that has "an effect similar to a police dazzler. NOT recommended for biking. Blinding muggers and spontaneous rave parties, maybe."
Kyle's other inventions include a T-shirt launcher for sports assemblies that makes use of an air compressor. He also enjoys woodworking.
He plans to become an electrical engineer and has applied to the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, the University of Toledo, and Purdue University.
He praised Northview's engineering tech prep, where he takes college-level courses and works on projects ranging from rockets to robotics. He also plays violin in the high school's chamber orchestra.
"I keep busy," Kyle said. www.bgocled.com
"I love biking at night," he said. "Everything from the empty streets to the cool air keeps me biking into the night."
His problem was that the flashlight he clamped to his handlebars didn't throw off the illumination he wanted, so he engineered a solution.
Kyle, a self-described "tool nerd" who is in Northview's engineering tech prep program, designed and built his own battery-powered light that can put out 1,300 lumens -- about the same brightness as his car's two headlights, he said.
Now, no matter how dark the night, he can see where he's going.
"It's a big improvement," he said. "I feel safer."
Kyle made the light in the home workshop he shares with his father, James Lammie, who is a skilled do-it-yourselfer. The 17-year-old is a whiz with technology and much sought after as the sound and light technician for school play productions in Northview's Performing Arts Center, the school's renovated theater.
For the recent production of The Wizard of Oz, he conjured up a floating head illusion that rose from fog. The special effect wowed the audience. "Kyle was the man behind the man behind the curtain," joked Nancy Crandell, a school district spokesman.
To achieve the brightness he wanted in the bike light, Kyle used three LEDs (light emitting diodes) powered by a pack of nickel-metal hydride batteries. He also used an aluminum heat sink to protect the LEDs and a device called a driver that controls the brightness settings and permits it to flash like a strobe if desired. The project involved several trips to hardware stores and ended up costing about $150.
Kyle lays out the project in meticulous detail on a Web site called instructables and includes photographs of his work in progress.
On the Web site, he describes the strobe capability at full power as a "fun feature" that has "an effect similar to a police dazzler. NOT recommended for biking. Blinding muggers and spontaneous rave parties, maybe."
Kyle's other inventions include a T-shirt launcher for sports assemblies that makes use of an air compressor. He also enjoys woodworking.
He plans to become an electrical engineer and has applied to the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, the University of Toledo, and Purdue University.
He praised Northview's engineering tech prep, where he takes college-level courses and works on projects ranging from rockets to robotics. He also plays violin in the high school's chamber orchestra.
"I keep busy," Kyle said. www.bgocled.com
没有评论:
发表评论