Scientists researching kinetic clothing

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 2 Nov 2007 at 12:36

Australian scientists have been granted A$4.4 million to develop a vest capable of translating movement into power.

The vest, known as the Flexible Integrated Energy Device (FIED), is intended to reduce the weight of batteries that modern soldiers must carry onto the battlefield, a problem the US has also been investigating.

"It will look like an ordinary garment but have extraordinary capabilities," says Dr Adam Best, lead researcher with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's (CSIRO) Energy Technology Division, which has been awarded the grant.

"As the person wearing the garment moves, the vibrations they create can be harvested and channelled into recharging the battery or powering plug-in electronic devices. Essentially, they'd be wearing the battery, not carrying it."

Ultimately Best envisages a device capable of storing and providing energy over a continuous period of time, which can be charged either kinetically or through a mains socket.

Though the technology is being developed under a military mandate, he believes it will have a number of commercial applications, such as powering mobile phones and laptops, or vital-sign monitoring in medical and sports devices.

"We'll use the funds to further develop the various components of this technology and look at how we bring them together into a wearable garment."