Power Pocket: Jean Shorts Charge Your Smartphone With Body Heat

I remember this year at CES there was a thermoelectric wristwatch unveiled that could convert body heat into electricity. As the watch rests on your wrist, it would start storing electricity, which could then power all kinds of devices. These shorts and this sleeping bag remind me of that because they also use your body heat to charge devices. Wouldn’t it be great to slip your smartphone in your pocket and know it was getting charged? It’s called Power Pocket, and it’s being unveiled today.

According to Ecouterre, “Each smart material contains thermoelectric modules that convert temperature differences – say between your sweaty, gyrating behind and the surrounding air – into electric voltage, a concept known in physics as the Seebeck effect.”

In physics, the Seebeck effect requires a combination of hot and cold to create electrical power. One side has to be cold, and the other has to be hot. When you can get a flow of heat through that, it can create a voltage and a current. The marriage of voltage and current create the electrical power. In this case, your butt provides the heat, while the inside layer remains cool.

This Power Pocket, which is built into these Power Shorts and Recharge Sleeping Bag, was created by a collaboration between British telecommunications company Vodafone and the department of electronics and computer science at the University of Southampton.

Unfortunately, these Power Pocket shorts aren’t available for purchase quite yet. However, according to Stephen Beeby, professor of Electronic Systems at the University of Southampton, “There are researchers around the world doing similar things right now, and I imagine that this technology will be implemented routinely into clothing and things like that over the next ten years.”