With the changing of the seasons comes the inevitable changing of the clothing. Shorts go back into the closet and sweaters come out. But what if we didn’t have to constantly switch out our clothing when the temperatures changed. Kranthi Kiran Vistakula, a student from MIT, has designed a new clothing line called ‘ClimaWare’ that helps regulate body temperature with help from nanotechnology. Vistakula's apparel, which also includes a helmet, neck wrap and jacket, is lined with metal pucks placed at spots on the body where blood vessels are most dense to more efficiently regulate body temperature. The pucks are made of two different metals, so that one heats up, and the other cools down. The resulting energy is transferred to the skin through a thermoelectric lining stitched inside the clothing. "While pursuing my Masters at MIT, I found the process of putting on and taking off additional layers of clothing in winter very cumbersome. To overcome this inconvenience, I started working on developing a jacket with the capacity to both heat and cool. I put the Peltier effect into application for achieving this purpose. But soon I realized that a new technology would have to be developed to make the jacket lightweight and to both heat and cool. I had to work on developing a new heat exchanger or heat sink in order to keep the jacket light. After three years' worth of effort and experimentation, the weight of the jacket stands at just 650 grams, almost equivalent to the weight of a regular pair of jeans," said Vistakula. Now that’s cool or hot depending on the season.
Last time I worked with Peltier Junctions, the heat and cold were so extreme that both would "burn" human skin instantaneously. Let's hope Vistakula has some build it safety measures or an emergency break out of the clothes button.
Eavesdropper