The recurrent climate changes around the world have urged inventors to create easy and sustainable solutions to help face both hot and cold temperatures.
In early 2020, Sony plans to launch a wearable cooling device that, according to the company, is a lightweight gadget that slides into the upper back pocket of a specially designed t-shirt, which allows its wearer to use it during summer and winter.
A report published by the Tech Xplore website said the device connects to the wearer's smartphone to adjust the temperature via a Bluetooth connection through an app available for Android and iOS. Users can increase the temperature during cold weathers, or reduce it during extreme heat.
As many regions in the world suffer from unprecedented hot temperatures, mainly Europe and the Gulf, Sony officials said: "The credit card-like pocket device will be able to cool a user's body temperature by 13 degrees Celsius or raise it by about eight degrees."
The new device adopts the Peltier effect, a dynamic thermal method discovered by the French scientist Jean Peltier. This effect, which is widely used in cooling systems, creates an electric current that flows between two metals and transfer the heat from a metal to another, to obtain a hot side and a cold one. The Peltier effect is adopted by many cooling units used in electronic devices.
The report cited Stephen Johnson, a columnist specializing in technology news, who reviewed the device's details and some of its features, saying the wearable device is equipped with a 24-hour battery that require two hours of charging. It also includes a USB-C port that is compatible with many devices of different sizes.
"The device weighs 85 grams, so the wearer won't feel any additional load in his shirt, and people won't notice it."
Speaking about the connection between the device and the specially designed shirt that includes an upper rear pocket, and the fact that it is hard to suit people of different sizes, the report explains that "the company plans to produce shirts of different sizes (small, medium, large).
The shirt will be sold for about $130.
