Scientists Develops ‘Smart Skin’ Patch That Keeps Your Body At The Perfect Temperature

The two inch square device works like a personalised thermostat and can be used at home, work or on the go

A smart skin patch that cools down or warms up the wearer has been developed by scientists.

The two inch square device works like a personalised thermostat and can be used at home, work or on the go.

Powered by a flexible, stretchable battery pack the US team believe it will help save energy on air conditioning and heating.

It sends hot or cold pulses of electricity to any part of the body – mimicking the relief of warming hands by the fire in winter or splashing water on the face in summer.

Study leader Professor Renkun Chen, a mechanical engineer at the University of California, San Diego, said: “This type of device can improve your personal thermal comfort whether you are commuting on a hot day or feeling too cold in your office.”

The patch described in Science Advances is made of thermoelectric alloys – materials that use electricity to create a temperature.

These are soldered to thin copper electrode strips, sandwiched between stretchy elastomer sheets. It physically cools or heats the skin to the individual’s choice.

First author Sahngki Hong, who worked on the project as a PhD student in prof Chen’s lab, said: “You could place this on spots that tend to warm up or cool down faster than the rest of the body, such as the back, neck, feet or arms, in order to stay comfortable when it gets too hot or cold.”

It could help keep a building’s set temperature 12 degrees higher during the summer, for example – cuting cooling costs by about 70 percent, said Prof Chen.

He explained: “If wearing this device can make you feel comfortable within a wider temperature range, you won’t need to turn down the thermostat as much in the summer or crank up the heat as much in the winter.”

There are a variety of personal cooling and heating devices on the market, but they are not the most convenient to wear or carry around. Some use a fan, and some need to be soaked or filled with fluid such as water.

Prof Chen and colleagues designed theirs to be comfortable and convenient to wear. It’s flexible, lightweight and can be easily integrated into clothing.

The researchers embedded a prototype of the patch into a mesh armband and tested it on a male subject in a temperature-controlled environment.

In two minutes, it cooled his skin to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit – keeping it there as the ambient temperature was varied between 71.6 and 96.8.

The ultimate goal is to combine multiple patches together to create smart clothing that can be worn for personalised cooling and heating.

There are a variety of personal cooling and heating devices on the market, but they are not the most convenient to wear or carry around. Some use a fan, and some need to be soaked or filled with fluid such as water.

Prof Chen and colleagues designed theirs to be comfortable and convenient to wear. It’s flexible, lightweight and can be easily integrated into clothing.

The researchers embedded a prototype of the patch into a mesh armband and tested it on a male subject in a temperature-controlled environment.

In two minutes, it cooled his skin to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit – keeping it there as the ambient temperature was varied between 71.6 and 96.8.

The ultimate goal is to combine multiple patches together to create smart clothing that can be worn for personalised cooling and heating.

Prof Chen said: “If there are just a handful of occupants in that room, you are essentially consuming thousands of watts per person for cooling. A device like the patch could drastically cut down on cooling bills.”

The team is now working on patches that could be built into a prototype cooling and heating vest. They hope to commercialise the technology in a few years.

Added Prof Chen: “We have solved the fundamental problems, now we are tackling the big engineering issues – the electronics, hardware, and developing a mobile app to control the temperature.”

Source: UK Mirror