Florida-based Hills, a major manufacturer of fabric forming equipment, has just debuted their
latest innovation: a machine that produces nanostructured fibers which could potentially be assembled to act as rechargeable batteries. This could prove especially useful for military purposes, lightening the load for soldiers in combat who depend on a significant amount of power for operation of their equipment and weaponry. According to MIT’s Technology Review:
The machine… could be the key to a new generation of military uniforms that take on active functions such as generating and storing energy…
Today, a typical platoon requires almost 900 batteries of up to seven different types for a five-day mission, says Charlene Mello, a member of the macromolecular-science team at the Natick soldier center. Besides being cumbersome to manage and carry, the batteries don’t last very long, which could put soldiers in the position of having to change them in the middle of a fight.
…[Hill's] machine is important for longer-range research on power sources that would simply disappear into the background.
[via Technology Review]
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