Every mobile worker knows the nightmare: The rechargeable battery in the mobile phone or laptop computer is dead, contact with the outside world is severed, customers are angry and the boss is throwing a fit.
In a few years, such crises could become a thing of the past as technology burrows deeper into the apparel industry. Scientists and clothing makers are experimenting with solar cells built into coats, jackets and backpacks that can provide power for portable electronic devices.
Traditional silicon-based cells are inflexible and therefore unsuited to textiles. But help may be on the way from flexible, organic solar cells printed on polymer foils, a new development in which the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), based in Freiburg, Germany, has been instrumental. The venerable Munich clothing maker Lodenfrey is interested.
"I think it's exciting," said Klaus Faust, head of Lodenfrey's menswear department. "You're taking a walk in the sunshine and recharging your mobile phone."
Solar cell jackets will not be ready for the market until a number of technical obstacles have been overcome, however. One is the ability to withstand laundering. So far, solar cells are unable to withstand a complete machine wash cycle at 60 degrees centigrade.
ISE scientists actually had another clientele in mind for their organic solar cells: the building industry.
"It's a relatively young technology that, in the long term, can make a contribution to the energy supply," according to ISE spokeswoman Karin Schneider, who said that organic solar foils might someday be glued to awnings and the walls of buildings for the purposes of electricity generation.
The apparel industry is interested, too. "We're still a little bit away from large-scale production, but a lot is in flux," Schneider said.
Jackets or sweaters with embedded photovoltaic cells could have various uses. "It's conceivable, for example, to have safety vests with built-in...
Source: http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=80143
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