A pinecone-shaped wildfire detector built out of wax and charcoal has won the UK James Dyson Award, recognising the best inventions by student and graduate designers.
Pyri was inspired by nature in its shape, materiality and also how it works. Its name references the botanical phenomenon known as "pyriscence", wherein plants in wildfire-prone areas have adapted to release their seeds in high heat.
The shape of the device is based on pinecones from these kinds of trees, which drop their seeds only when their resin outer casing melts.
Pyri is a wildfire detection device made of organic materials
Similarly, the presence of fire liquefies Pyri's wax shell, releasing a saltwater solution whose electrolytes activate the electronics contained within. This causes a radio frequency signal to be sent, alerting local communities to the danger. The device constitutes an application of organic electronics ? a field of materials science that uses carbon-based compounds instead of rare or precious metals to make electronics that are potentially biodegradable and avoid the need for mining.
Pyri is the product of four students from the Innovation Design Engineering graduate course at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London: Richard Alexandre, Karina Gunadi, Blake Goodwyn and Tanghao Yu.
The designers have created several experimental prototypes of the device
Alexandre is a Brazilian national, who was driven to create Pyri after witnessing the destruction caused by unp...