News A jacket to keep you warm and powered

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/11/07/a_jacket_to_keep_you_warm_and_powered_/1

The Australian national science agency have displayed preliminary plans for a jacket capable of generating and storing power to run mobile devices from the body’s movement.

 

very interesting. but i couldve sworn ive seen the idea somewhere else...

 

Drill Sergeant: Alrighty you numb-nuts, PT time! my iPod needs a charge

 

sounds like a good idea to me. I really like the idea of being able to put some kind of heating element in there. Working in -40 degree weather last year for 8 hours at a time without anywhere to go to warm up was not fun.
Coul also have commerical applications as well, line a boat with the stuff, and as the boad rides the waves some kind of rollar moves over the material compressing it to generate power.
I understand that its not a lot of power, but with all things it will get better with time.

 

So it begins....

 

Bah Ha Ha!!
I never even thought of that. as long as we control them and not the other way around.

 

Warning: Not suitable in the rain

 

My portable devices would all be flat if I had one of these. I don't produce much kinetic energy sitting on my ass.

 

Oh wow! i want one

I'm the sort of person that has been described by others as: "could freeze to death in a volcano"
I've been known to wear two pairs of trousers and two jumpers to work in the coldest parts of the winter

 

Hopefully it will be a bit more fashionable when it hits the shelves. Looks like a Kevlar vest right now.

 

i think this is lame..... there are better ways.... some guys invented a way to make a painted insulator that creates electricity from a temperature difference.... and some guys that created solar panels in the form of paint that can get like 30% efficiency and works with infrared... just apply these to your clothes and you don't have to move at all.

 

I wish companies would stop advertising things like this until it works, and the clothes dont look like something from the Thunderbirds.

 

couldn't they make a jacket that works off you own body heat

 

That would be useful. I walk a lot and it'd be nice to charge up ma phone so I could keep bluetooth on all the time.

 

In the same way as you would struggle to run an electric blanket off a mobile phone battery, so will you struggle to make a heated jacket from a mobile phone charger. Piezo-electric is a small effect from natural sources - it can't easily be made dramatically more effective.

 

of course it will take a while, look how long computers have existed, its taken a long time to get to where we are today. If people invest money in it, it will get better over time.
But my point was, that when it hits -40, having something like this that plugs into your socks, even if its just a little bit of heat, would make a world of difference. or maybe something that pluges into gloves to keep your fingers warm. I dont want something that would make you want to walk around in a t-shirt, just something to help.

 

austrailia has an army?

heh, ill take 1.

 

The next step is to make it to transform more kinetic energy into electric form.
I hope it can charge my notebook in the future.

 

wait til it gets a slight tear and then it starts to rain hehehehehe

 

but if you're sitting on your ass, what do you need portable devices for?