Boots Recharge Gadgets With Thermoelectricity

[Guest]

Well, a more accurate term would be "galoshes".

Boots Recharge Gadgets With Thermoelectricity : Read more

 

[Pyroflea]

Umm.. wat?

 

[decepticon]

This probably would not work well in very hot climates as the temp difference between the ground and your feet wouldn't be that much.

 

[sliem]

Gasp, cute. Ehm. Not safe for work.

 

[squiggs77]

Yes, because I always want my gadgets fully charged when I'm trudging through mud.

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

now put it into something I wear more often than these boots. these boots are not used for long trips, and that is when you need this kind of technology.

 

[dextermat]

Nice:

This could be one step forward recycling wasted heat from computer!!!!

Of course the technology need to be developed

 

[afrobacon]

How well do they protect your gadgets from snow?

 

[jryan388]

My feet are already cold enough as it is in boots. I don't want to stick them in a refrigerator.

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]dextermat[/nom]Nice:This could be one step forward recycling wasted heat from computer!!!!Of course the technology need to be developed[/citation]
In Canada, it's not waste heat. ^_^

Honestly, these are laughable...

 

[BPT747]

I want to see this technology they are using, if it is feasible then I can design a product that is usefull.

 

[lashabane]

[citation][nom]sliem[/nom]Gasp, cute. Ehm. Not safe for work.[/citation]

NSFW? Do you work in a monastery? Is a Nun peeking over your shoulder?

 

[nforce4max]

This wouldn't do me much good when I am walking home from school when I can feel the heat through my boots. Also these boots wouldn't last long any ways for casual use much less getting from A to B. Plus they're out of place in most settings, I wonder how long before one gets trench foot by wearing these?

 

[zak_mckraken]

The girl on the picture sure charges my battery, if you catch my drift?

 

[dstigue]

Is this a publicity stunt. The label is an orange box. Like HL2.

 

[xkche]

Nice girl! ^^

Not everybody use boots...

 

[nevertell]

I'll buy it just because that chick is wearing them.

 

[maestintaolius]

Whoever designed these must have slept through thermo (or plans on selling them to people who never took it or also slept through it). If one was to take this device and replace it with the ideal Carnot engine (the mythical highest efficiency heat engine possible) and assuming a 20°F difference in temperature of the ground surface and the boot you'd have an device of about 4% efficiency (real is likely to be less - usually far less). Without knowing the exact construction of the device, you can't know exactly how much energy is available (it depends on things like thickness, area, thermal resistivity of the entire device, etc) but when I read the company's site, I see Seebeck effect, p- n-type semiconductors, thermopile, etc; I just see a marketing gimmick using technical words to convince people, "it can't be fake, it sounds too scientific!" Of course, they missed the obvious marketing line of "employing the same technology that has kept the Voyager spacecraft powered for 20 years" (granted, the Voyager craft uses nuclear decay as a heat source and space as the heat sink so there's considerably larger thermal gradient).

The only way this device has even the remotest chance of working is if the thermopile device has incredibly low thermal resistivity and is very thin (which would end up feeling like you have a hole in your boot - i.e. not compatible with MN winters). Reading further through their website you also see the statement that basically says "12 hours of wear for 1 hour of charge time" leads me to believe you'd be better off buying a little hand crank generator to charge your phone.

 

[maestintaolius]

[citation][nom]BPT747[/nom]I want to see this technology they are using, if it is feasible then I can design a product that is usefull.[/citation]
The technology isn't actually all that complicated, just do a quick google of Seebeck effect (it's what makes thermocouples work) or RTGs (it's what they use to power deep space probes that can't use solar) and it will explain it all. The reverse (applying power to thermocouple type junctions) can actually be used to cool devices and is referred to as the Peltier effect which is also an interesting read.

 

[Guest]

such a thing is already active in the army for many years, they power their infra red cams and nightvision with.