Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. The term was coined in 1967 by Edward de Bono.

According to de Bono, lateral thinking deliberately distances itself from standard perceptions of creativity as either “vertical” logic (the classic method for problem solving: working out the solution step-by-step from the given data) or “horizontal” imagination (having a thousand ideas but being unconcerned with the detailed implementation of them).

Discovered various means of purchasing online from oversea sources.
China is one BIG factory with millions of products.
Jack Ma did a great job building Alibaba and its various subsidiaries that is catering to different people

1. Alibaba is targeted to manufacturer and import/exporters.
2. TaoBao catered mainly to Chinese speaking consumer buying from China manufacturer/distributors.
3. Aliexpress targeting non Chinese speaking consumer.
4. Daigou which is non Alibaba, focuses on shipping goods out of China.
5. Qoo10 is local in Singapore.

Intention is to have touch that is perpetually everlasting, “batteryless”, “maintenance free”

Experiment with a number of setup, with the following observation.

Tesla Torch is a variance of “Joules Thief”
Typical LED specs at 3.3V and can be lighted up at 3V
What “Joules Thief” does is using a amplifier circuit to boost Voltage up to 3V from a supply as low as 0.5V
It does this in pulses, meaning that the LED is actually blinking. OFF when voltage is low and ON when voltage is high.
The waveform resemble a square/sign wave.
Efficiency is not high – 60% typical.

A good site on “Joules Thief” is http://rustybolt.info/wordpress/

Tesla Torch is slightly different as it resemble a transformer on the coil portion.
Circuit flows through primary coil and LED is driven from induced current on secondary coil.
Efficiency may be higher, pending verification with oscilloscope.
Can’t measure voltage across LED with multimeter.

Tearing up a 1 cell LED torch and realized that it uses a silicon booster chip plus inductor, resistor and capacitor.
Its able to maintain consistent 3.3V output with input voltage as low as 0.5V. This can have efficiency as high as 80-90%
Lower the input voltage will have lower corresponding output current and transfer efficiency.

Efficiency aside. The concept of combining Super Capacitor with Hand Crank and booster circuit to light up a LED is commendable.
It extend the shelf-live and ease out operation expenses of a “Emergency Torch” eliminating the need to change battery, long term cost saving.
Super Capacitor is also “fast charging” compared to rechargeable battery. Allowing quick “light”

Good deployment for

1. Cruise Ship Cabin
2. Hotel Room
3. Outdoors entuesist
4. Rural areas with frequent power outage.
5. Disaster Relief Packs/Stores

Torch to have the following features.

1. Maintenance free
2. Batteryless
3. Quick charge – 30 secs from 0 to usable. (i.e >0.8V for a JT circuit)
4. Relatively long run time. Charge time vs use time.
5. Brightness control. Low/medium/high light with corresponding use time.
6. Use as charger for USB devices
7. Quick Charge – achievable with a small capacity super capacitor, high ampere generator Long run time – this needs balancing with respect to brightness. high ampere generator could help shorten charging time.

Possible combination to achieve the desire outcome

1. High ampere generator
2. High efficiency (MTTP) super-capacitor charging circuit
3. High efficiency LED buck/boost driver https://www.ams.com/eng/Products/Power-Management/DC-DC-Buck-Boost-Converters/AS1331
   High voltage range. i.e. using 5.5V 4F Super Capacitor that can run down to 1.8V
4. TOREX  XC6206P332MR  LDO, FIXED, 3.3V, 250mA, 6V, SOT-23-3