I'm not seeing the point here, especially for $120.<p>If it's fast, you'll end up with an extremely hot metal rod at the end of the cooking process, which you have to wash if you're heating anything other than water, and which will burn milk, soup, etc. Plus, you can't use it with metal containers, so a stainless-steel insulated travel mug is right out, unless you want to drink your tea with an oven mitt.<p>Plus, there's no mention of how much of a household's energy budget is spent heating water. I'm guessing "not very much," so energy savings are a red herring. $120 spent on LED lights or insulation around your hot water heater will probably save a lot more.<p>To make a single cup of hot water, it's much easier to: (1) microwave it; (2) stick in an immersion heater; or (3) pour a cup's worth into your kettle, turn it on, then pour the result back into your cup.<p>EDIT: Relevant, more detailed analysis: <a href="http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/05/burning-desire-for-efficiency/" rel="nofollow">http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/05/burning-desire-f...</a>
Well you can get a cup size immersion heater:<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Immersion-Heater-Portable-Beverage/dp/B000VK0DRY" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Immersion-Heater-Portable-Beve...</a><p>For about $9. We used to have those growing up.<p>But those can be very unsafe. (Or at least those designed and built by the Soviet industry were...).
Electric heating elements that can be used with a mug are nothing new. This is recycled 1970's tech, if not older. The only difference is that this is IH, which just makes it a more complicated mouse trap than the following compact (and cheap!) design:<p><a href="http://ak.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/1497616/preview/stock-footage-accelerated-heating-water-in-a-mug-with-a-compact-boiler.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://ak.picdn.net/shutterstock/videos/1497616/preview/stoc...</a><p>That's something you can slip into your backpack for traveling.<p>Google image saerch for "immersion travel water heater":<p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=immersion+travel+water+heater&tbm=isch" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/search?q=immersion+travel+water+heate...</a><p>This IH-driven metal stick is not going revolutionize the way we heat liquids. If the market was eager for immersion heating, the existing immersion heaters would be everywhere. You don't see them much, though, and they have had decades to take off.
Brilliant, revolutionary, fresh, lets make a kickstarter and pour millions of dollars into this, after all its standing vertically!<p><a href="http://termos.com.pl/p/2013/09/turystyczna-grzalka-do-gotowania-wody-okazja-2-3473815171.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://termos.com.pl/p/2013/09/turystyczna-grzalka-do-gotowa...</a>
In our office we have this<p><a href="http://www.billi.com.au/" rel="nofollow">http://www.billi.com.au/</a><p>Spits out near-boiling water heated on-demand basically instantly.
Would be interesting to see some specs/measurements to substantiate their proposed energy savings -- without an insulated heating vessel it's hard to believe this is more energy efficient than existing technology.
Really?<p>We had those for at least 50 years:<p><a href="http://www.img.chh.pl/large_size/cdeeb903fbbd7e9488757bb92fcbe97f.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.img.chh.pl/large_size/cdeeb903fbbd7e9488757bb92fc...</a><p>I don't see how it's any different?
Big-ass induction coil... bet it would do a quick number on a credit card. Or a thumb-drive... or a phone... "Oh, is that one of those induction battery chargers?" fzzzzt!
$120 is expensive.It would take 16 years to make 2 cents on your investment. You don't believe me, here is my calculation:<p>Regarding energy usage:
1 cup of water is 28 grams
t0=25s
t1=100s
C=4.18<i>10^3J/kg.s
Q=mc(t1-t0) for boiling Q=.028</i>4.18<i>10^3</i>75=8778J
8778J correspond to
0.00243833333 kilowatt hours
so if you pay .11$ per Kw hour
we are talking about 2 cents per cup!
If we are wasteful and 2 cups of water and drink 1 we have wasted 2 cents. How much time I have wait to make profit on my 120 investment.
120/0.02=6000
And if you drink 1 cup of tea a day. You have wait 6000/365=16 years.
You have to wait 16 years to make money on your investment.
I wonder if there's any technical reason they wouldn't be able to have a thermometer at or near the end of the rod. It would be interesting to see it heat the rod rapidly and then fluctuate the induction base when an ideal temperature is reached in order to maintain that temperature. Ideally wirelessly, but I suppose the top of the rod could have a tether back to the base.<p>Different substances have different temperature restrictions, but it seems like for rapid heating, you could target 100C at the end of the rod but reduce power as the liquid (perhaps monitored by a second thermometer higher up the rod) approaches 70C, or whatever your preferred temperature is.
OT: I've always wondered, why aren't pots (edit: all pots, not just water kettles) insulated? And to take it step further, why aren't the stove burner and its interface with the pot also insulated?<p>To test the energy loss yourself: Put a pot on the stove, turn on the stove, and hold your hand over the pot, next to the pot, and also touching the side of the pot. (DO NOT DO THIS. It's dangerous. Do it as a thought experiment instead.)
This is a great place to ask 2 questions:<p>1) Anybody using single serve electric kettles that have variable temp heating? Some teas need lower temps and I'm usually drinking 1-2 cups at a time.<p>2) I've always imagined building some kind of adjustable mechanical whistle into a kettle to accomplish this. Is that possible to make a kettle whistle with "low" steam?
~ 1 in 1000 children in the UK suffer from scalding accidents every year involving kettles, so anything to reduce the quantity of boiling water around is good, I've got one of these, works just fine <a href="http://www.onecupkettle.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">http://www.onecupkettle.co.uk/</a>
My grandparents use this little boiling device. May not be fancy looking but it's does the job, it's cheap and portable.
<a href="http://imgur.com/gallery/Yk23aAl/new" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/gallery/Yk23aAl/new</a>
How fast is it? It would have to compete with the speed of an electric kettle or microwave.<p>Also, other than the fact that it uses induction, there are many single cup liquid boilers on the market. Their design seems really clean and efficient, though.
So it works with glass, ceramics, anything non-ferrous.<p>What if I had a ferrous mug with say a wooden handle, would I still need the iron rod, or would the system not work at all?