Epiphany onE Puck charges your phone with the power of a drink

It seems as if every other day we see a new method for charging a cell phone. With a strong possibility of power outages coming to Northeastern portion of the United States due to winter storm Nemo, other methods of keeping cell phones alive could certainly come in handy. The Epiphany onE Puck uses the power of your drink to keep your mobile device alive and kicking for a little while longer.

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The Epiphany onE Puck uses a Stirling engine powered solely by heat disparities to generate the electricity to keep your phone up and running. Stirling engines were actually invented in 1816 as a rival to the steam engine, but its use was limited to low-power applications for a long time.

Epiphany Labs is using modern materials to use the technology in a rather different way. The most obvious evolution comes in terms of size. The working prototype of the Epiphany onE Puck is not much larger than the bottom of a cup, so it's small enough to carry around easily.

The device has two sides; a blue side for cold drinks and a red side for hot drinks. According to its creators, a hot drink is the optimal way to charge a device. It comes with a USB port that can charge any device that draws 1000 mA or less. This means it can charge iPhones, Androids, iPods and other USB-based devices.

Epiphany Labs claims that, in ideal circumstances, the device would be able to charge your phone at the same speed you would see plugging it in directly to a wall. It will also work in less-than-ideal conditions, but if you are not placing a fresh hot drink on the Puck, you will have to wait a little longer for your device to receive a full charge.

The team from Epiphany Labs has a working prototype, and is turning to Kickstarter to get the funding needed for production. The early bird specials of US$100 are all gone, so if you want to pick up your own Epiphany onE Puck, it will set you back $115. At the time of writing, the team is close to halfway to its $100,000 goal.

The Kickstarter pitch below provides more information about the Epiphany onE Puck.

Source: Epiphany Labs, Kickstarter