Technology Development

Orange, the telecommunications company has come up with a t-shirt with which one can use to charge their iPhone. They have named this new technology embedded t-shirt Orange Sound Charge. Currently only a working prototype has been made. It obviously doesn’t look too good but the technology is amazing. The principle behind this piece of clothing is that it converts sound energy into electrical energy and thus one can charge their iPhones. Orange aims to enable this t-shirt to charge a variety of mobile devices in the future.

In a post where Orange announced the t-shirt, they also explained the working of this t-shirt and the technology behind it. It is an eco charging device and it reverses the principle of a piezoelectric film. An A4 sized panel of the film is embedded inside the t-shirt. This then acts like a huge microphone which absorbs the sound and pressure energy waves. By the compression of quartz crystals which are interlaced converts the sound waves into electrical energy. This energy is sent to an internally built reservoir battery. From this battery, via interchangeable leads the mobile devices are charged.

There are two basic conditions which need to be satisfied for the working of this t-shirt. Firstly, it has to be worn. The second condition is that it needs to be located at a place where the ambient sound level is sufficient. The required sound level is about 80 decibels. This is almost the sound level at a busy street. Below this level of sound the t-shirt will not be able to absorb the sound energy and convert it into electrical energy to charge the mobile devices. The t-shirt is to be tested at Glastonbury Festival this year, there will be a number of live performances their and so the sound levels will definitely be around or above 80 db.