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Solar Clothes
Ant sent this link to a story about solar-powered clothes, well, solar-powering, maybe. This may be the breakthrough we've been waiting for to convince computer geeks to spend some time in the sun.
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hawk, let down
Where do you get shirts that survive 1000 washings? That's some amazing uptime.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
And nearly everyone believes that they have the average number of arms. Most people actually have more than the average number of arms.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Actually, I don't think there will be enough power to run a monkey ball sucker.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Clothes have pockets. Without a place to put our pocket protectors we are lost.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Are you actually arguing that all you need to turn a solar sweater into a monkey ball sucker is a potato? OK, if you say so, I'll believe you.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
I think we've found our monkey ball sucker.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
I'd like to have a tent made out of this fabric, to power my laptop while camping.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Just what geeks need: Another reason to be afraid of shorts...
Kevin Fox
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Kevin Fox
Solar cells based on amorphous silicon are less efficient than their crystalline cousins, but they still have many advantages, he says.
Although I can see some advantages of having flexible solar arrays, some of the issues right now aren't so much the flexibility, as most arrays are flat parts which fold up. If you need to fit to a curved surface, you just use a series of smaller cells to approximate the surface, and then use a conformal coating as a sealant.
The issues that I see, however, is that they admit that these are less efficient, how large of an array are we going to need to get a useful amount of power? Last time I looked into it [1995 or so], agricultural solar cells were considered to be about 20-22% efficient. Hughes Electronics at the time had some that were 35% efficient, but you were looking at paying through the nose for 'em [US$100k per square meter worth, assuming you could find a supplier]
Looking at some current numbers, it looks like these have a chance at being near 10% efficient. To take things into perspective, the typical solar car for the GM Sunrayce in 1995 had an 8 meter squared solar array, and produced at most 200W per square meter under optimal conditions. [Normally 100-150W]. If we assume that we're going to get 50W/meter from these clothes, we can compare them to a standard NiMH rechargable AA battery.
Looking at the battery stats on a very efficient laptop, you're looking at needing 10W to run it [50W*hr battery lasts 5hrs]. The Sony Vaio lists its power requirements as needing a peak of 49.5W. [A single battery is 1.8mAH@19.5V, so about 35W*hr, and lasts 2.5hr, so typical would be 14W draw].
Naturally, a larger, more feature rich portable would require more draw. Realistically, we might assume 20-30W. Which means we'd need 1/2 a meter squared of exposed surface. [about 775 sq in, or 5.4 sq ft]
So, based on these calculations, any of you skinny nerds are going to need to find a few more fat people wearing these shirts to sit next to you while you game.
[oh, and hey, it was 6 years ago when I was working on a solar car. My numbers may be off a bit, as I didn't get much sleep during those days]
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
dont count on it.
How we know is more important than what we know.
What is this "sun" thing of which you speak?
My mom is not a Karma whore!
There is really no reason to spend time in the sun. Everyone knows that UV radiation causes permanent cellular damage, including premature aging, cancer, moles, keratosis, pterygium, and cataracts. With the ozone layer going, it will only get worse. And the vitamin D thing? Everyone knows you can get it from milk now. Besides, the U.S. government has classified most of the population as obese, and as we all know, fat people can't generate vitamin D too well. You'd be much better spending all your time in the dark...maybe in caves like our ancestors did. Then thousands of years from now, you can ring a civil siren and all the people of light will come to your door so you can eat them.
//m
This isn't one of them.
I bet you could buy 1000 batteries for the price of one of these shirts (that ain't gonna survive 1000 washings).
You could do your work outdoors when sunny
You could play Quake outdoors when sunny
You could use your PC's @ the beach
You could set up a bikinicam @ the beach
You could do your banking outdoors
Power a fridge to cool your beer on the beach
Power your trailer (for all the trailer trah "folk")
California has finally found a fix for their issues
Cons:
You forget sundown time and work gets lost
You forget sundown and get fragged @ Quake
Your PC becomes filled with sand and useless
A sexy bikini chick kicks sand on your can fscking it up
You forget sundown and wire someone else all your money
A glitch turns your fridge into a heater so you suffer with warm beer
You could live in a trailer
Californian Power authority passes high taxes on solar powerd clothes
use the source luke!!!
360 degrees of Karma
I would think to get computer geeks out into the sun more often, they'd have to find a more efficient way of capturing sunlight. If you use clothes, about half the clothes would be facing away from the sun at any given time. I could see this being used more for setups like large beach umbrellas, where the thing is usually intentionally pointed at the sun to keep its user in the shade. Besides blocking the sun from scorching ya, it could also power your laptop. A more efficient use of the material than "solar-powered clothing".