Slashdot Mirror
Solar-powered Handbag
karvind writes "BBC reports that a student, Rosanna Kilfedder, from Brunel University has designed solar-powered handbag to make finding keys and other items at the bottom of a bag easier. The handbag, dubbed Sun Trap, uses a solar cell attached to the outside of the bag to trap energy from sunlight. The energy is stored in an internal battery which lights up the lining. The lining is made from an electroluminescent material and is lit up by the bag's zip which acts as a switch. The bag goes dark when the zip is closed or after 15 seconds if it is accidentally left open. A secondary use of the portable battery is as an emergency charger for mobile phones and other wireless devices."
Somehow I just don't see how adding a battery to a purse is going to make things easier to find. You know that women are just going to have one more thing in the purse to move around, and there's going to be too much in there for the light to actually penetrate... I mean seriously, most women I know have a double decker bus worth of stuff in there. It's a wonder they all don't lean when they walk. ;)
Sounds useful. This is an example of why it's good to have women in engineering/CS programs. Would a guy ever have thought of this?
Carry a proximity transponder in your pocket, so if your bag is nicked it screams "help me, I'm being blagged!"
Argh.
Additionally, I though light was supposed to be unable to escape from a black hole...
Argh.
...when will this tech translate over to our wallets? :)
:(
As a man you should know that it will effect your wallet the moment it becomes the hit status symbol. she buys one and your wallet is lighter
I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
in the windows of cars parked in the sun, powering anti-theft alarms
...
The Mercedes E series offers a solar panel sunroof, which operates the car A/C on a sunny day. Personally, I think that's a far better application of solar power
This will be great for all those female slashdo...
I mean, it'll be a great gift for some slashdotter's girlfr...
Why is this article here, again?
If this is for a woman's handbag, I think it would be much more sensible to attach something to her jaw and get mechanical energy from there as she talks. Because the sun eventually burns out, you know.
But for the handbag, why not simply make a material that is opaque from the outside and transparent from the inside, which lets light in but not out...?
No, bad idea. All those trapped photons would build up, and when the handbag was opened they would burst out like a photon torpedo, incinerating the woman. Oh the humanity!
In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.