Renewable Energy Cutting Back on Soldier Loads?

Trust me, those batteries are heavy! And with the ability to harvest energy from your kit, you can seriously cut down on weight, never mind the environmental side effects.

The US Army has presented at IDTechEx conferences, pointing out that a US warfighter often has to carry more than the ancient Roman soldier. This is despite the fact that the ancient Roman soldier carried prefabricated fort parts and food, with no support staff. A major problem today is the batteries. Consequently, in 2007, the US Army set a target to reduce the manpack weight by two thirds in six years while increasing the functionality of the equipment. Printed and fabric electronics are an essential part of this work.

For example, Nanotechnology researchers at Georgia Tech are developing a power shirt able to generate electricity to power small electronic devices for soldiers in the field, hikers and others whose physical motion could be harnessed and converted to electrical energy. Pairs of textile fibers covered with zinc oxide nanowires generate an electrical current. Combining current flow from many fiber pairs, woven into a shirt or jacket, enables the wearer's body movement to power a range of portable electronic devices. The fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture energy from wind motion, sound vibration or other mechanical energy. Southwest Research Institute employs electromechanical, solar and electromagnetic energy harvesting with its manpack RF equipment.

One early change by the US Army was to put multi-functional, low power, lightweight electronics on the wrist as shown in the picture and later work extensively employs energy harvesting.

By: Brant