Levitating objects are things floating in the air due to magnetic repulsion or suspensions, compensating each other’s action. Besides tables, these items can be, for example, ordinary LED bulbs, which consume relatively little electricity compared to incandescent bulbs.
What is it? Levitation lamp
A levitating lamp, or floating lamp, is essentially a bulb that does not directly contact its base, which is a lamp. This bulb would be screwed into an ordinary lamp – to ensure a steady glow. In a levitating lamp, its attraction is provided by magnets. But this attraction is not permanent, because when approaching a certain distance from the lamp, the bulb is not attracted, but clings to it.
Principle of operation
There is an important similarity between a levitating light bulb and a smartphone with wireless charging: the transfer of electricity from a source (base or cradle) to a receiver (an applied product) is done by electromagnetic induction – similar to that which occurs in transformers when the mains voltage drops from a life-threatening to a relatively safe value. By connecting your smartphone to the wireless docking station, you give it the opportunity to charge. Similarly with a light bulb: ideally, by letting it gravitate fully to the magnets, you make it glow. The non-contact secondary power source consists of coils with cores – they are also in the receiving device. Only the smartphone is completely attracted to the “base”, and the bulb stops at a short distance from the “wireless socket” and begins to glow.
If the lamp suddenly goes out, for example, when the power supply to the network of an apartment or house is suddenly cut off, the bulb will not fall out.
The protection system is designed in such a way that the bulb, on the contrary, will eventually be attracted to the socket. The fact is that the repulsion is due to electromagnets – the attraction, in turn, is formed by ordinary permanent magnets (for example, neodymium). Once the power supply to the lamp is restored, remove the bulb from the holder – it will float back to its original place. The same protection system works at the expense of the Hall sensors and coils that adjust the magnetic flux – to prevent the bulb from falling out.
This invention has given rise to specific varieties. It is no longer simply a bulb that hovers above (or below) the base. For example, the Missione Fly and Missione Loft desk lamps are arranged as follows: the first is a bulb that hovers over the stand, the second is suspended. Activation and deactivation of this furniture – and this is not only a lamp, but an unusual room decoration for beginners – occurs through the touch switch, which is extremely hidden in the lower part (support) and away from an inexperienced observer in such things.
Varieties
Other manufacturers, such as Flyte and Volta, have also moved to floating bulbs.
But another manufacturer has become a leader in design solutions, offering its development to the market of levitating objects – the Heng Balance lamp. The switch is made in the form of two balls with magnets and coils suspended on laces, which must be manually moved closer to each other for the lamp to light up. The lighting frame is made in the form of an ellipsoid, in which the LEDs are located, which consume little electricity. The opening (dilution) of the balls, in turn, turns off the light. Developers also opted for round and square shapes of the light element.
Like other varieties – a kind of “anti-gravity fountain”, a levitating cloud, a “Moon” with a levitating switch, etc. – the light element has been designed to be a decorative lamp. The first is a decorative lamp in the shape of a fountain or broom, whose composite rods are made of decorative optical fiber that transmits light in the form of small points of light at the ends of these rods. Externally, it looks like a kind of “singing fountain” from afar: developers do not stop at the results obtained and integrate dimmers into such lamps that control the colored glow of LEDs emitting red, blue and green colors.
The second option is a decorative cloud made of materials transparent to white light. The “cloud” itself can be made, for example, of optical epoxy, which acts as a complexly shaped serrated lens, made in the form of an irregular polyhedron with hundreds of faces. As a result, for example, on a nearby white wall, strange beams of light rays refracted in a complex way are formed.
The LEDs integrated in the “cloud” also change their brightness with the help of a dimmer.
However, a cloud-shaped bulb can also be made in the form of a blue ball with clouds drawn on it.
Finally, the last option looks like a decorative bulb with an uneven texture and a matte finish. Thanks to the warm light that illuminates the inner side of the shade, it looks like the moon. The moon texture is applied to the surface of the ceiling – it is only visible when the LEDs inside the ball are lit. Without the light, it’s just a white ball. Like the ball-shaped “cloud,” it rotates while the levitating mount is on.