Roy Vanegas
The Sunstrap
Use indoor light or the sun to recharge batteries worn on a necklace made of solar cells.
http://roy.vanegas.org/itp/wearables/
The Sunstrap is a necklace that provides a trickle charge for rechargeable batteries. It's made of an array of solar cells, each packaged in clear plastic, that look like precious stones.
Solar cells have been mounted on jackets and backpacks to power iPods, mobile phones, and other small electronic devices. There\'s even a Solar Necklace made of ``crystalline materials used in the manufacture of Solar Cells\'\' (http://www.sunshinesolar.co.uk/khxc/gbu0-prodshow/SS1752.html), but an entire neck strap made of solar cells is novel.
Environmentalists, sustainable-ists, and the fashionably adventurous.
You wear your Sunstrap on a sunny day, either riding bike, on a stroll, or simply walking about. Or you wear it to school on a day when you\'re going to study all day at the library or in the office.
The Sunstrap is made of about 25 printed circuit boards, known as solar chips, each containing two solar cells, copper coil, and thread. Each solar chip yields about 4-volts at 200 microamps in peak sunlight. The entire Sunstrap yields about 5000 microamps, or 5 milliamps, which is enough to provide a trickle charge to rechargeable batteries.
The Sunstrap will illustrate that today\'s solar power technology is very close to developing the types of devices needed to power a cell phone or portable music player, using the sun as an energy source.
Solar cells have been mounted on jackets and backpacks to power iPods, mobile phones, and other small electronic devices. There\'s even a Solar Necklace made of ``crystalline materials used in the manufacture of Solar Cells\'\' (http://www.sunshinesolar.co.uk/khxc/gbu0-prodshow/SS1752.html), but an entire neck strap made of solar cells is novel.
Environmentalists, sustainable-ists, and the fashionably adventurous.
You wear your Sunstrap on a sunny day, either riding bike, on a stroll, or simply walking about. Or you wear it to school on a day when you\'re going to study all day at the library or in the office.
The Sunstrap is made of about 25 printed circuit boards, known as solar chips, each containing two solar cells, copper coil, and thread. Each solar chip yields about 4-volts at 200 microamps in peak sunlight. The entire Sunstrap yields about 5000 microamps, or 5 milliamps, which is enough to provide a trickle charge to rechargeable batteries.
The Sunstrap will illustrate that today\'s solar power technology is very close to developing the types of devices needed to power a cell phone or portable music player, using the sun as an energy source.