Litroenergy - New Light Source Material (emits light for 12 years without electricity)

NASA Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest ^ | 10/5/07 | Steve Stark

[LibWhacker]

Litroenergy is a patent pending designed light source material that emits light for 12 plus years- without electricity or sun exposure!

Our development/design of long-life, self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres (non-toxic) emit light continuously for 12 plus years (half-life point) without any exposure to a light or other energy (not effected by cold or heat). This extremely low cost material offers 24/7 light, which can be injection molded or added to paint. It is 5,000lb crush resistant, stable and constant light source (gives off no U.V. rays). It is designed to give off almost any color of light desired. Our goal is to mass produce this material and supply OEM’s.

Litroenergy has potential to save billions of dollars in energy costs world-wide. Litroenergy surpasses all known available lighting options for cost/durability/reliability (12+ years) and safety. The uses are unlimited as the imagination; however we predict the safety aspects to be the front runner in application (light safety tape, lighted life rafts/flotation equipment, light safety markings/equipment, etc.). Supplemental light source will be second as the material is bright and one can read by it, if you have some Litroenergy lighting you will not need to always turn on a light source that requires electricity. The use of Litroenergy in toys, sports/camping equipment, bikes and novelty uses will be close in applications.

The fill rate of Litroenergy micro particles in plastic injection molding material or paint is about 20%. The cost to light up 8 ½ x 11 piece of plastic 1/8” thick is about .35 cents.

We appreciate this opportunity to introduce our patent pending designed Litroenergy light source material to the world.

[LibWhacker]

And from TreeHugger.com (LoL):

Litroenergy is a new type of material that emits light for 12 years without needing electricity or sun exposure. The self-luminous micro-particles are called Litrospheres and are said to be non-toxic and inexpensive. The light is said to be equivalent to a 20 watt incandescent bulb (lumens please?).

The litrospheres give off a continuous illumination, and can be designed to glow in any color. They can be injection molded or added to paint. The company that invented the material, MPK Co., predicts that first applications of Litroenergy will be in safety equipment such as safety tape and life rafts. Currently, the cost to light up a 8 ½ x 11 piece of plastic 1/8” thick is about .35 cents. Note: The press release says .35 cents but I think the figure is actually 35 cents.

More information can be found on this site.

[Petronski]

April Fools in December?

[kinoxi]

It is a betavoltaic technology, using a radioactive gas, whose "soft" emission of electrons from the beta emitting gas cannot penetrate the glass or polymer wall of the microspheres.

I've got some antique orange glasses I think you should look at...

[spunkets]

Tritium.

[Cementjungle]

...which can be injection molded or added to paint

Glow in the dark paint should be interesting in the hands of graffitti artists.

[goldstategop]

Your home can be a perpetual night light - or even a kaleidoscope of colors in the living room if you want to dazzle the guests in the dark. Cool.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[xjcsa]

April Fools in December?

Good question; that was my first thought. They have a website here which seems to actually sell traditional-technology glow-in-the-dark paint (has to be exposed to light for awhile, then it dims), and this new "development" is mentioned there. It would be cool if real, but I keep thinking they'll offer a perpetual motion machine along with it.

[Mike Darancette]

. The use of Litroenergy in toys, sports/camping equipment, bikes and novelty uses will be close in applications.

Good for fishing lures.

[brityank]

From the link:

---

Probably Tritium; Not New; Not Dangerous; Not T100

On Dec. 10, 2007, New Energy Congress member, Richard P. George, Ph.D. wrote:

My best guess is that they are using tritium. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. It is an odorless, tasteless, colorless gas that reacts with the human body in the same manner as natural hydrogen. Beta rays from the tritium hit phosphors to create the glow you see. Tritium has a half-life of 12.5 years, which means that in that time the lamp will be half as bright as it originally was. Trijicon uses tritium in their ACOG rifle scopes in common use in Iraq and Afghanistan by the special forces (government issued) and thousands of individual soldiers who purchased their own scopes. Tritium is also used in some watches.

Beta particle radiation can cause skin burns and are most harmful when they enter the body (becoming small radioactive cancer causing bombs). They can be blocked by thin sheets of metal or plastic. Small amounts of tritium (e.g. one ACOG scope or one watch) have minimal radiation. You would have to have ~10,000 ACOG scopes or ~2,500 tritium watches break in one room to have any significant radiation or risk. I don't know about these paints but I suspect it would be hard for the tritium beta particles to escape the paint such that they could do harm.

The intensity is not very strong. This is good enough for night illumination of rifle scopes, watches, and emergency signs but it is not going to come anywhere close to matching the light output of or replace electric light bulbs (incandescent, flourescent, LED, etc.) or kerosene lanterns.

Tritium illumination has been around for at least 25 years. This is not a top 100 technology.

---

[M203M4]

Yup, the approx 12 year half-life would be a strong indication!

About 2 years ago, an American(Rochester)/Canadian(University of Toronto) group developed a tritium-based battery small enough to be used to power pacemakers. Aside from that, I’m unaware of betavoltaics being used outside of space applications.

[goldstategop]

Tritium derived phosphor coating is used on watches to create glow in the dark effect, eliminating the need for a backlight.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[DB]

Had to have an energy source.

Radioactive energy source makes perfect sense.

I wonder what happens if you burn it???

[prisoner6]

It is designed to give off almost any color of light desired.

Hmmm...howsabout ALL colors at the same time...i,e, white light? That was a problem with LED lighting for awhile but seems to have been solved.

BTW We're using battery powered (NiMH AAx4) LED's on our indoor Christmas trees. I was looking for solar powered LED strings for outside but never got around to sending for them. Maybe after the first of the year when we start getting stuff for the summer garden.

in case you are wondering we ARE NOT envirowhacies by any streatch of the imagination, and we don't live off the grid in a rural area. Wife and I are mostly in suburban Pittsburgh when we're not 90 miles north at the farm.

I worked in commerical/residential lighting for around 25 years and became fascinated with new lighting tech, so I'm always eager to try new sources.

prisoner6

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

Burning luminescent paint?

The Tritium would burn just like hydrogen after the surrounding plastic melts - but there really is very, very little Trit in each square foot of material. Some of the (mildly radioactive) water would leave the room with the burning soot and waste gasses. Some would get trapped in the soot in the room, some would stay entrapped in the melted slag on the floor or cloth.

[spunkets]

"I wonder what happens if you burn it??? "

People die.

[spunkets]

Yes. They’re not going to be able to sell this stuff. It leaks beta rad. What is allowed is for industry, or pro use. THis isn’t toy making mat’l.

[PizzaDriver]

Would it be more effective in areas with high Radon levels?

[Erasmus]

Yes. They’re not going to be able to sell this stuff. It leaks beta rad. What is allowed is for industry, or pro use. THis isn’t toy making mat’l.

Well, sure it is! For the Chinee!

[MindBender26]

Tritium?

As in “zippers”

[spunkets]

"there really is very, very little Trit in each square foot of material."

Yes, but it's dangerous and regulated by the fed energy dept and the state environmental units. I tried to get a licence once for a 1/2 dozen mm size dot devices. The regs were an enormous cost and any leaks caused a super fund type response. This isn't stuff for toys. Are these things-toys- coming from China?

[spunkets]

"Tritium? As in “zippers” "

Don't know boss. Just ³H.

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

Ah, but you are confusing the “rapid-bureacratic-response-to-perceived-horror” with the actual hazard involved.

Can’t have that now.

After all, the 10,000x more “free” Hg in compact fluorescent bulbs” is absolutely no hazard in your household at all (open windows before cleaning up the broken glass though) even though it’s toxic level in a typical room are many more than industrial allowed amounts in fabrication.

But CFB’s are THE energy solution and so therefore aren’t polluting nor hazardous. By decree from Washington.

/sarchasm - the gaping hole between reality and a liberal’s ideas.

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

If I paint the ceiling in my kid’s room with these light “bulbs” .... Where is their “off” switch?

[Cvengr]

But the “if it’s good, it must be bad” thinking will seep out somewhere.

[quickquiver]

That little factor of 100 could be hugh!

[singfreedom]

Hubby and I haven’t gotten that high tech, but my favorite outdoor decorative lights are little solar powered LED stars on ground stakes. They are SO PRETTY and they change color! We wanted to get some more, but haven’t been able to find them.

Evidently someone else liked them too. One has already been stolen!

[singfreedom]

Perhaps you can help me? I heard after the environmentalist began their push for all of to use those odd looking fluorescent light bulbs that these bulbs contained MERCURY. Now I don’t know a lot of Chemistry, BUT I do remember that Mercury and the human body do not mix well. I can just imagine all these spent bulbs in landfills, contaminating ground water.

Question: Is this true or not? and why would environmentalists push for such bulbs if it is true?

[prisoner6]

Yes it's true...there are SMALL amounts of the stuff in CFF lamps. I don't think it's a big deal. Heck I used to PLAY with the stuff...make hand held mazes, switches and I can't remember what else. Up until a few years ago had a 20 pound jar in my garage.

IMO most of the dangers of stuff like mercury, asbestos, fiberglass and the like are overblown. Wann see how many of Mom Nature's little creatures THRIVE in the insulation in my attic, LOL!

prisoner6

[prisoner6]

Yuppers they ARE cool! IIRC I saw some in the latest Plow and Hearth catalog. They had been on Ebay too, but I don't recall seeing them recently.

prisoner6

[singfreedom]

Thanks for the information. I used to play with Mercury too. My Dad was a Chemistry and Math Prof and, before we “knew better”, it was normal practice for youngsters to have hands-on experience with the liquid metal.

[blackdog]

When I was a teen there was an old fallen down tree in the woods near the house. At night it glowed at the sections most rotted. We would break off chunks and read comic books by the light when we camped out in the summer. We even tried to innoculate other trees with the chunks to continue the stuff’s existance. It didn’t work. When that tree decomposed in full so went the glowing fungus. Never did know what it was?

[Raycpa]

Las Vegas here it comes

[fishtank]

You nailed it.

[MindBender26]

I would have thought tritium was exceptionally expensive, extremely difficult to handle and very controled.

[brityank]

That had to be cool! Must have been some type of bio-luminescence, similar to the plankton I saw in the tropics. Could be that your fungus had a genetic ‘mistake’ — recessive genes that amplified the light, but were a one-in-a-million happenstance. One the plankton died and decayed/dried out, the luminescence faded away too. Interesting phenomenon.

[antiRepublicrat]

those odd looking fluorescent light bulbs that these bulbs contained MERCURY

This is true. For one, the tiny amount of mercury doesn't escape unless you break one. Second, assuming you use mixed power and broke one, the net amount of mercury released into the environment is less that what gets released from a coal power plant providing the extra energy for a regular bulb.

[Hot Tabasco]

Litroenergy lighting you will not need to always turn on a light source that requires electricity.

Just what I need in my bedroom.......light that you can't turn off.

Imagine all the things made of this stuff that get broken and thrown in the trash. Trash dumps all over the country will be glowing forever.....and I don't know about you but I usually put out the trash the night before pick-up day as do all my neighbors. Just what I want to see at night, hundreds if not thousands of glowing garbage bags lining the streets......

[-YYZ-]

“Tritium.”

That’d be my guess, too. What’s different here is that they’ve found a way to encapulate it in very small particles, rather than the somewhat larger glass envelopes used for watch faces and the like. Interesting. This could make high visibility self-illuminated watch dials a lot cheaper.

[brityank]

I would have thought tritium was exceptionally expensive, extremely difficult to handle and very controled.

Seems easy to handle; just make "heavy"-water. Found an interesting write-up: Truth about Tritium ^ that gives some background.

Many have expressed outrage that we are not able to ship the GlowRing overseas, demanding an explanation. Well, the facts are these: the GlowRing contains radioactive tritium gas. It's this which excites the phosphorescent coating inside the tube to produce the light. What it doesn't excite much are the US authorities, who forbid the civilian use of radioactive material. Hence the embargo.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although tritium can be a gas, its most common form is in water, because, like non-radioactive hydrogen, radioactive tritium reacts with oxygen to form water. Tritium replaces one of the stable hydrogens in the water molecule, H2O, and is called tritiated water. Like H2O, tritiated water is colorless and odorless. Tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years and emits a very weak beta particle.

The key words here are "very weak" - the beta particles are unable to penetrate even thin layers of solid material and are easily stopped by human skin.

[Fitzcarraldo]

[INVENTORMN]

NON-TOXIC material. There is nothing radioactive about our material.

Steve Stark

[INVENTORMN]

No Tritium.

Please don’t make things up..this is a clean energy free lighting...safe for everyone and environment.

Sincerely,
Steve Stark

[INVENTORMN]

There is no Tritium in our material.

Our material is safe for everyone and environment.

Sincerely,
Steve Stark

[spunkets]

"No Tritium. Please don’t make things up..this is a clean energy free lighting...safe for everyone and environment."

Produce the patent.

[spunkets]

" The key words here are "very weak" - the beta particles are unable to penetrate even thin layers of solid material and are easily stopped by human skin."

Sure, but it's what they do during the stoppage that causes problems. UVA is on the order of 1-10 eV. The beta particle energy from ³H decay is centered at ~2.3keV. If it's compass dials, or watch dials, the back of the watch/compass is metal and the watch/compass cover is substantial glass. It wouldn't be a good thing to keep the glass side against the skin though.

[spunkets]

It is very controlled and it takes special equipment in controlled facilities to handle it. It’s not all that expensive a mat’l though and the products it goes into aren’t that expensive. The volume has to be up though. The largest volume use is for emergency lighting in buildings. The dead lights must be sent back to the maker for disposal, else the T could be released and inhaled, or otherwise cause problems.

[aruanan]

without any exposure to a light or other energy (not effected by cold or heat).

Okay, so neither heat nor cold cause it to emit light. What does?

[Southack]

"Produce the patent."

He can't while it's patent-pending, and when the patent is granted the Chinese will steel the technology and clone their own.

That's why you can't file patents any longer...the Chinese steel the good ideas...and U.S. lawyers will *never* sue Chinese firms.

[spunkets]

"Okay, so neither heat nor cold cause it to emit light. What does?"

Maxwell's demonesses, with glow bling and a 12 yr supply of ecstasy.

[spunkets]

"He can't while it's patent-pending"

Yes, he can. The filing date counts.

"That's why you can't file patents any longer...the Chinese steel the good ideas...and U.S. lawyers will *never* sue Chinese firms."

Ridiculous.