soon clothing powered by solar energy, capable of adapting to all weather

2023-12-18 07:36:38

Chinese researchers from Nankai University in Tianjin have created temperature-regulating clothing. This system will initially be dedicated to technical clothing for hiking or expeditions.

Published on 18/12/2023 08:36

Reading time: 2 min

(Photo d’illustration) (ASCENT/PKS MEDIA INC. / STONE RF / GETTYIMAGES)

A new generation of thermoregulating clothing will cool or warm us automatically, using solar energy. This is what researchers at Nankai University in China have developed. Details have just been published in the journal Science.

The garment seems quite effective: they tested it under a blazing sun at 38°. And for the person wearing it, the feeling was only 28°, or ten degrees cooler, which is enormous. A little later in the night, when the temperature dropped to 12°, the feeling was around 22°. The garment therefore functions like real air conditioning.

The end of coats?

To operate, it consumes energy, but solar energy. You have to imagine a sort of suit with photovoltaic panels on the shoulders, torso, back and along the thighs. They power several electro-calorific plates. These are the plates which, when receiving current, will heat or cool down, depending on the outside temperature.

The researchers’ feat is to have made the whole thing thin and flexible enough to be able to be integrated into traditional clothing. A garment that you can wear all day, which will guarantee a constant internal temperature, even if, outside, you have significant variations. It might therefore one day put an end to coats and other overcoats.

For the moment, even if it remains thin and flexible, the system is not very discreet, the solar panels and electronics remain visible on the garment. The objective is not to target fashion, the researchers are rather targeting technical clothing, for those who go hiking or on an expedition.

It is a technology that might also replace survival blankets, those which have a silver side and a gold side. At least we will no longer be confused regarding the side that warms and the side that cools. The garment will regulate the temperature on its own.

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