Stanford University researchers invent air conditioning plastic
The air conditioning plastic polyethylene is to be layered with cotton to create cooling clothing
Scientists at California’s Stanford University have developed a clothing material made from plastic polyethylene which will naturally air condition the human body.
The naturally air conditioning fabric works by integrating two layers of treated polyethylene (the plastic polymer used to produce cling film) with a layer of conventional cotton mesh material.
When talking with the journal Science, the inventors said the new fabric will keep people cool during the hot summer months without the need for constant air conditioning. However, we predict it will be a long time before plastic t-shirts and dresses become the mainstream!
According to the inventors, the new material will keep the body up to 4 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than conventional clothing. This is due to two different technologies.
The first is a feature of most current clothing; namely the ability to evaporate the body’s perspiration. However, the new fabric also has the groundbreaking ability to reflect sunlight and to allow infrared radiation wavelengths to pass out through the clothing.
The air conditioning material has been tested in laboratory conditions on devices that react like a human body would in hot temperatures. The results confirmed that the new nano-porous form of polyethylene does keep the human body cooler.
When the devices were wrapped in the new nano-porous polyethylene fabric, the temperature of the device rose by just 0.8 degrees celsius. In the same conditions, the device was wrapped in commercial polyethylene and conventional cotton clothing and the device temperature rose by 2.9-degree and 3.5-degree.
Professor Shanhui Fan of Stanford said: “… until now there has been little or no research on designing the thermal radiation characteristics of textiles. Wearing anything traps some heat and makes the skin warmer. If dissipating thermal radiation were our only concern, then it would be best to wear nothing.”
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