If 120-degree summer heat and 70-pound packs weren't enough, American troops in Iraq have been getting sapped of energy by a surprising source: their own batteries.
" Now Lockheed Martin has stepped up to solve both problems in one go. It plans to turn a soldier's body armor into a power source, making the armor rechargeable and its total weight minuscule.
Scientists at Georgia Tech have created a wearable power source they call the "power shirt," a device packed with nanowires that could harness the body's kinetic motion, even down to the flow of blood beneath the skin.
Tiny wires attach to fibers in the shirt and tap into a soldier's body movement, combining the electrical flow from many fiber pairs woven together. It could generate enough electricity to power a range of small electronic devices.
More than just shirts could become power sources; by weaving the fibers into other materials, Kevlar jackets and even tents could utilize the technology to draw energy from sound vibrations or wind motion. "
" Now Lockheed Martin has stepped up to solve both problems in one go. It plans to turn a soldier's body armor into a power source, making the armor rechargeable and its total weight minuscule.
Scientists at Georgia Tech have created a wearable power source they call the "power shirt," a device packed with nanowires that could harness the body's kinetic motion, even down to the flow of blood beneath the skin.
Tiny wires attach to fibers in the shirt and tap into a soldier's body movement, combining the electrical flow from many fiber pairs woven together. It could generate enough electricity to power a range of small electronic devices.
More than just shirts could become power sources; by weaving the fibers into other materials, Kevlar jackets and even tents could utilize the technology to draw energy from sound vibrations or wind motion. "
