A jacket for all conditions : From Hot Indian summers to cold Mt.Everest!

“I am running out of juice for my jacket.” That might soon be a standard expression if this inventor from Andhra Pradesh has his way. Kranthi Vistakula, an engineer from Andhra Pradesh went to MIT, only to find the sub-fifteen degree weather unbearable. Instead of resorting to multi-layered clothing like everyone else, Kranthi has invented a jacket which can both cool and heat depending on the weather.

After continuously refining the jacket the weight came down from 7 kilograms to 650 grams. The jacket which is called ClimaCon can maintain internal temperatures between 20 to 40 degrees and will operate in ambient temperatures –fifty to fifty degrees. It runs for 8 hours on a single charge.

So far the Climaware jacket has been tested successfully by the Border Roads Association, part of the Indian Army. It tried out the jacket’s heating function in environments including Khardungla, the world’s highest road for motor vehicles, and the Siachin glacier, the world’s highest battlefield, on the contested border with Pakistan.

Climacon uses multiple Peltier plates built into lightweight plastic tiles and then into a jacket. Kranthi’s company Dhama Innovations have many more products for personal and industrial use.

The cost isn’t mentioned anywhere but whatever the cost is, I can already see a section of the crowd buying it. Indian students who are starting their masters or bachelors programme in the US will be Climacon’s biggest customers in India. There are typically long list of items Indian students are forced to carry. The list might trim down a little and this jacket will be a standard appearance on everyone’s list.

Frequent travelers, globe trotters and the simplicity folks are yet another segment who would be interested in a jacket of this kind. People across the world are paring down their belonging to 100 things by taking up a challenge. Some went to the other extreme and pared it down to just 15 things which also includes  jacket and a computer. With a jacket like this the list could probably even simpler. Because it longer matter what’s inside as you can have this jacket on all the time. One might come out as a uni-dimensional when it comes to wardrobe but hei, Steve Jobs is your friend.

Source : Economist