Tech & Biz

American Troops May Become Their Own Batteries

by Rob Walker | July 11, 2008 at 11:48 am

211 views | 5 Recommendations | 5 comments

When you're in the field as part of a military unit, every ounce and pound can add up. Trudging through sand and desert, the weight will not only tire you faster, it will cause you to lose precious bodily fluids.

30lbs of Batteries - the amount the average US soldier carries in combat - surely can't help matters.

It seems like this is why arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin is working on a tactical combat vest that would recharge batteries just through normal day-to-day movement.

Using a sort of mesh fiber, it is thought that by combining the electrical flow generated from a soldier's kinetic body movement, the vest could generate enough electricity to power a range of small electronic devices.

On a typical three-day deployment, soldiers carry around 65 batteries — weighing up to 30 pounds — to power their night-vision goggles, flashlights, GPS and other tools. This is in addition to a significant amount of dead weight in body armor and Kevlar.
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.

If it succeeds, the armor could also solve another power problem. An estimated 40 percent to 50 percent of battery energy is wasted because key parts of a soldier's kit don't have a sleep mode to save power while they're inactive. That means normal batteries just run out.

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Amy Judd

at 11:51 on July 11th, 2008

That's very cool.

Rob Peters

at 12:34 on July 11th, 2008

They should make these for camping.

Paschen

at 03:16 on July 12th, 2008

I second that, And for my Lab top as well!

dunkelberg

at 13:01 on July 11th, 2008

There's also this concept from www.treehugger.com

This time we surfed past a piece we just had to bookmark to share with you: how to make your own breath-powered USB charger.

Although. I admit I found that while searching for this other motion-powered idea I had heard about recently

Then one day recently I had an idea. As I rode public transportation to the office, my messenger bag slung uncomfortably across my chest, I thought, "Why not put the girls to work?" Human-powered devices are showing up everywhere, from Rotterdam's sustainable dance floor to human-powered gyms in Hong Kong. The time seemed perfect—perhaps even overdue!—for a bra that could harness the untapped power of breast motion.

Unfortunately, it is only musings and thinking it was true research is what I get for not listening closely to NPR's Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me! (29 June 2008), which is well worth a listen.

Of course, solar cells are being added to many different articles of clothing.