New Dress Accommodates Solar Cells And Circuit BoardsMight chafe |
5 Comments |
| By Michael d'Estries in Energy, Green Products, Solar | February 26, 2008 | |
While the practicality of something like this remains to be truly tested, we will say that this design from Studio 5050 is intriguing. Basically, this is a modular, reconfigurable dress comprised of 448 white circuit boards. Each tile is designed so that it can also accommodate a solar cell, a RGB LED, or a photocell, and jumper connectors. A control board (yes, you’ll need one somewhere in there) provides power, communication with the tiles, and a computer interface. Supposedly, you can charge devices by hooking up to the included USB interface.
The future of fashion is here. And it sure looks complicated. Just make sure you stay dry or this whole thing could get messy.
Check out the product page here.
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PlanetThoughts said,
Does the term “wardrobe malfunction” ring a bell. Although the concept of personal solar energy is tantalizing, the sight of all those little squares dangling off each other and carrying electricity, makes me wonder. Still, I applaud the idea of using every square inch of surface area available to gather more energy and free ourselves from foreign, polluting oil. Better a wardrobe malfunction, than terrorist oil, any day.
DForce Blog » Nuevo vestido con células solares said,
[...] El futuro de la moda está aquí. Y seguro que se ve muy complicado. Sólo asegúrese de que permanezca seco o podría meterse en un problema. Via groovygreen [...]
Fun Green Roundup #11 from Life Goggles said,
[...] dress And while we’re on the subject on dresses, Groovy Green has a story and pics of a solar powered dress. Michael d’Estries does point out a valid issue [...]
Dave Ja Vu said,
Would you even be able to sit down in that dress? I would think that you would be crushing circuit boards left and right. I can see it now, “Great, now I can charge my cell phone, but have to stand the whole time I’m wearing my dress”
Anthony said,
To PlanetThoughts:
Not every circuit board will be carrying electricity with it, only the boards with solar cells (and not every board will have solar cells, but every board can accommodate one), and those that are vital to the overall schematic. Even with those few carrying electricity, it will be minor, ~5.0v I assume as that is about what it takes to charge USB devices. This is all hypothetical as I have seen the schematic of the dress, but I’m simply taking this from what is said.
Then with the terrorist oil – please don’t start stereotypes.
To Dave Ja Vu:
Hopefully there is a section in the back that is just fabric so that the person wearing the dress can sit down, it would be the most logical thing to do. Other wise yes, it would be a very bad situation.
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I really like the idea of incorporating renewable energy with every day life without having to think about it too much, because that’s how it will start to make its way into society, and I like incorporating it into the “style of today”. I do think that it would be better to use something a little more “flexible” with every day life than circuit boards, something even as conductive fabric would work. Hopefully there will be some major developments in this kind of design soon.