New climate-controlled jackets have helped Indian soldiers stay warm in subzero conditions on the Siachen Glacier, and have even made cows comfortable enough to produce more milk. But it all began with an Indian grad student's simple wish for clothing that could adapt to both the cold Boston winters and heated MIT campus rooms. Now, the MIT graduate's startup has begun selling the jackets, and other apparel, that allow wearers to control their level of comfort without adding or removing layers. That could prove an indispensable addition to future wardrobes in an age of wild weather and temperature swings.
"Our products can go from zero to 100 degrees C in the push of a button," said Kranthi Kiran Vistakula, founder and CEO of Dhama Innovations in Hyderabad, India. "We have four levels of heating and four levels of cooling that include low, medium, high and very high." Vistakula's Climacon Technology harnesses the so-called Peltier effect that helps cool electronic devices such as laptops. When electricity runs through the junction where two different metals meet, it creates a temperature difference so that one side heats up and the other side cools down.
Such heat-exchange devices also need fans to blow away the heat. But Vistakula used nanomaterials engineered on the tiniest scales to create a very light, very efficient version with no moving parts that can work with clothing. "We were able to reduce the weight and eliminate the need for a fan," Vistakula told InnovationNewsDaily. "That made it very suitable to put it into apparel."
Aside from ClimaWare-branded neck wraps, shoes, jackets and bike helmets, the startup also sells knee and elbow packs that provide hot or cold therapy for aching joints. TechNews Daily
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