Ephiphany Labs' mission is to change the world and address environmental issues with its innovative concepts. The Ephiphany onE Puck is just one idea, according the group of technologists and business professionals that shares a common passion for innovation and the environment, as they seek backers to fund their project.
Epiphany Labs developers recently used a 19th-century operational system, conceived in 1819 and known as a Stirling engine, to create a coaster-like gadget that lets you charge up your smartphone using any hot or cold beverage.
"This compact heat engine will simplify your life and benefit the world," Epiphany Labs says on its Kickstarter page.
In thermodynamics, a Stirling engine is defined as a heat engine operating by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gas. This occurs at different temperature levels and results in a conversion of heat energy to mechanical work. Advancements in technology allow for ideas to be used today in ways never before deemed possible.
Prior to the current startup endeavor, in 2005 Ephiphany Labs founders Tom Joseph and Henry Wandrie discovered a simple and inexpensive way to use concentrated solar energy to distill water. The conception of the Epiphany Solar Water Systems (SWS) provides 100 to 100,000 gallons of clean water from contaminated sea water, addressing the planet's water and energy issues. It's estimated that approximately 2 billion people in the world have no access to clean water, according the World Health Organization.
"What we're doing is taking existing well-known technologies and combining them in a way that nobody else has ever done in the past. When Robert Stirling, the inventor of this type of engine, was an old man, he predicted that "it remains for some skilled and ambitious mechanist in a future age to repeat it under favorable circumstances and with complete success." "After 200 years of waiting, we think that time has come," Epiphany Labs states.
Epiphany Labs plans to expand on its onE Puck project and someday create even larger Stirling engines capable of powering household appliances and perhaps even the entire household itself. The company has been researching thermodynamics for years, focusing on heat cycles and engine technology to further help the environment.
