Seebeck Effect Powered Jacket

What it does

The Seebeck Powered Jacket uses the seebeck effect to provide continuous electric power to the user with the usage of it's own body. The goal is the reduction of battery waste and pollution. And provide continuos electric power for electronics.

Your inspiration

Battery life for electronic devices is limited to a certain capacity defined by the application and battery manufacturer, this creates a necessity of finding an alternative source of energy (portable or non-portable) to charge the electronic device battery and avoid losing its functionality. Improper batteries waste disposition (or recyclability) will create pollution to the environment (groundwater).

How it works

The Seebeck effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a voltage is created between two different materials that are connected and maintained at different temperatures. The effect is used in many applications, including thermocouples, thermal power generators, and temperature sensing. DC Voltage is created between two different materials (semiconductors) that are connected and maintained at different temperatures. Using peltier modules connected in series and embeded in a jacket, then exposed to a temperature delta (human body and ambient temperatures) the terminals of the peltier modules will provide a DC Voltage (V) that will power electronic devices.

Design process

I started looking into a real problem to solve: considering the incremental usage of batteries for electronic devices and the contamination created by these components I decided to look for an alternative to reduce the usage of the batteries and reduce pollution to the environment. I was aware of the seebeck cooling modules so I decided to use them with a different approach so instead of cooling/heating by applying some electrical power, why not using our body heat and the environment temperature to produce some electric power. After that I followed the SCAMPER technique in order to use the lateral thinking and use an existing technology in a different way. After that I needed to identify the stake holders, define the stake holder, develop a bussiness model and validate the market, customer and product basic requirements. Then I needed to prove the concept of a jacket and peltier modules can create electric power with the environment conditions, so I developed a couple of prototypes (sketch's and then actual model) to validate my initial concept.

How it is different

I have not seen a wearable jacket or device in the market that can power basic electronic devices with the human body energy, so basically this will be one of the first concepts to try to use the seebeck effect in regular clothing.

Future plans

For the next products we will incorporate AI capabilities and technologies to improve power generation efficiency by monitoring and controlling the critical parameters according to the environmental conditions and user's habits. In addition, the user will be able to review in real time the state of charge of the jacket and your personal electronic devices on your smart phone.

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