Thursday, August 25, 2011

Solar-powered soldiers to reduce weight of batteries

By Wendy Zukerman, Asia-Pacific reporter



Australian soldiers suffer from the weight of heavy battery pack and soon hope to find a way to carry less using solar panels. With solar cells stuck on helmets, tents or clothing, soldiers can generate enough power to reduce the amounts of batteries they carry. Andrew Blakers at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra said that a conventional solar cell is about 0.2 millimeters thick and it would shatter easy if bent. He said that, the solar cells are thinner than human hair and are flexible enough to wrap around clothing and roll up into canisters for convenient transport. Trials with solar-clad soldiers will begin in the next few years.



Posted by Marcus Leno



Website: www.newscientist.com/section/tech