Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

Integration of flexible solar cells into clothing can provide power for portable electronic devices. Photovoltaics is the most advanced way of providing electricity far from any mains supply, although it suffers from the limits of ambient light intensity. But the energy demand of portable devices is now low enough that clothing-integrated solar cells are able to power most mobile electronics. We introduce clothing-integrated photovoltaics, their scope and limitations, the status of flexible solar cells, charge controller and system design, as well as prototype solutions for various applications.

Over the past ten years, photovoltaic power generation has grown rapidly worldwide1, and is starting to contribute a noticeable amount of electricity production to public grids, especially in Japan2and Germany1. Electric energy from solar cells is still too expensive to compete with established power plants, but photovoltaic island systems3located far from any grid connection have been economically successful for many years4. The size and output power of such island systems varies over a considerable range from several kilowatts to less than one watt. They have a common layout comprising storage batteries and power conditioning electronics, as well as the solar modules themselves.

We discuss here a specific type of island system, namely carry-on photovoltaics integrated with clothing. Jackets, coats, backpacks, accessories, even T-shirts and caps, provide a much larger area for integrated photovoltaics (ipv) than the ever-shrinking portable devices themselves. Nowadays, consumers frequently use ubiquitous entertainment, voice and data communication, health monitoring, emergency, and surveillance functions, all of which rely on wireless protocols and services. Consequently, portable electronic devices like mobile phones, mp3 players, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cameras, global positioning systems (GPS), or notebook computers need a wireless, mobile, and sustainable energy supply in order to overcome the constant problem of batteries running out of power when most urgently needed.

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