Development of Improved Lanterns For Rural
Areas
(article
written in
1989)
(A history of work done on lanterns at NARI is available here)
Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI),
Phaltan-415523, Maharashtra (India).
I. THE PROBLEM
Around 60% of the rural households in India (60 million) use only hurricane kerosene lanterns for lighting. With unreliable electricity supply, even the remaining 40% of the households use kerosene lighting occasionally. There are guesstimates that close to 100 million such lanterns exist in the country.
The quality of light from the hurricane lantern is abysmal. It produces light from the glow of a yellow flame, which is equivalent to few candles and about one-tenth of that from a 60 W light bulb. There is another type of lantern called "Petromax" used in the country. This is a pressurized lantern where the incandescence of a rare earth mantle produces the light. Table 1 gives the comparison of these lighting devices.
Table 1: Comparison of Existing Kerosene Lanterns
Item |
Lantern |
|
Hurricane |
Petromax |
|
Initial cost (Rs.) |
100-150 |
350-600 |
Light output lumens (lm) |
65-70 (Equivalent to few candles) |
1250-1300 (Equivalent to 100 W light bulb) |
Advantages |
Cheap; simple to light; handy; portable; can withstand 40 km/h wind |
Good light output; portable; sturdy construction |
Disadvantages |
Very poor light output; problems of charring of wick and necessity of trimming and cleaning it; frequent glass breakage; poor construction. |
Costly; heavy and tall; frequent breaking of mantles because of poor construction; difficult to light and requires alcohol to initiate lighting; tank pressure of 1.5-2 kg/cm2 (g) and hence prone to tank bursting; very noisy; frequent cleaning of nozzle required thereby increasing inconvenience; frequent pumping (almost every fifteen minutes) required. |
It is therefore evident that there is a need to develop a lantern which is very efficient, safe, convenient to use, cheap and which gives light equivalent to that from a 100 W bulb. Besides, the new lantern should also run on alternative fuels like ethanol, which can be a renewable replacement for kerosene as a lighting fuel.
II. THE SOLUTION
A new efficient lantern running either on kerosene or diesel or with slight modifications on ethanol has been developed and tested. It has been christened "Noorie" and is shown below.
Noorie lantern
In designing and developing this lantern, the main considerations were:
All the above problems were solved by designing a completely new (patented) "Noorie" lantern. The main components of the design were:
III. TEST RESULTS
Light source (fuel) |
Light output lumens (lm) |
Fuel consumption |
Efficacy (lm/W) |
Initial cost (Rs.) |
100 W bulb (electricity) |
1340 |
100 W |
13.4 |
400 (includes fitting & electrical connection) |
Noorie (kerosine / diesel) |
1300-1350 |
55-60 g/hr |
2.03 |
450 |
Noorie (alcohol) |
1350 |
90 g/hr of 93% (v/v) |
2.82 |
550 |
Hurricane (kerosene) |
68 |
16 g/hr (193 W) |
0.35 |
100-150 |
Petromax (kerosene) |
1300 |
80-90 g/hr (1025 W) |
1.27 |
350-500 |
Fluorescent tube, 40 W (electricity) |
2400 |
40 W |
60.00 |
650 (includes fitting & electrical connection) |
NARI is ready to license this technology. Interested parties should contact:
Dr. Anil K. Rajvanshi
Director,
Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute,
P.O. Box 44, Phaltan-Lonand Road, Tambmal,
Phaltan-415523, Maharashtra, India
E-mail: nariphaltan@gmail.com
1989