Sony Is Making a Miniature, Wearable Air Conditioner and Heater

Tsing

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Sony's latest idea is making heat waves and cold weather more bearable on the go. The company is crowdfunding a gadget called the Reon Pocket, a portable, card-sized Bluetooth device that functions as both an air conditioner and heater.

It operates on thermoelectric cooling, whereby electrical currents are used to absorb or generate heat. Users can get instant cooling or heating by slipping it into a special undershirt with a pocket at the base of the neck and activating the device through an app.

Spec-wise the product is pretty impressive. It supports iOS and Android, has a battery life of 24 hours and a charge time of 2 hours, and it uses USB-C. Since it’s so small and weighs a mere 85 grams (3 ounces), it’s not that noticeable even if you have to wear a special shirt to use it.
 
This can't be serious....

It's a peltier device in a fancy package and hyped marketing wank.
It will heat/cool a tiny area of skin behind the neck, perhaps helped by a fan.

Given the size, for it to last 24 hours, it isn't going to produce much cooling or heating.
Reason being, peltier devices are inefficient and the battery won't have a lot of capacity.
It also appears to have a fan (reference: holes in device seen through special shirt and text indicating "air volume" in Gizmodo article).
The primary function of the fan would be to get rid of the excess heat/cold on the opposite side of the device (the part not touching the skin).
Peltier devices need a way to remove heat from the hot side or else the cool side won't stay cool. The temperature differential must be less than 70 C or so to be at all effective.
It is not clear if the fan also spreads heat/cold to the user wearing the device as well. From the video, it may.

Let's get into engineering specifics:
According to Sony, the Reon weighs 85 grams..
Let's assume that the battery is 80% of that weight, or 68 grams.
Let's assume the battery is lithium ion. I cannot read Japanese so I cannot confirm, but what else would it be?
Let's assume the other electronics inside the device (the wireless connectivity, temperature monitoring, battery voltage monitoring, etc.) are all negligible power draw. It is not true of course, but it gives us simpler calculations.
Lithium ion batteries have a range of 100-265 W-h/Kg energy density, so let's use 200 W-h/Kg as a middle number.
68 grams is 0.068 Kg, so the battery has 0.068 Kg x 200 W-h/Kg = 13.6 W-h of energy.
Sony says the device will run for 24 hours on a single charge, so power draw per hour is 13.6 W-h / 24 hours = 0.57 W
The lithium battery will likely be 3.7 V nominal, so average current draw will be 0.57 W / 3.7 V = 150 mA
150 mA certainly seems like a reasonable current for a battery of this size, so I think these calculations are correct.
The battery would need to have a total capacity of 150 mA x 24 hours = 3600 mAh. This is a perfectly reasonable battery capacity and is in fact a standard size readily available everywhere.
Looking on eBay, 3600 mAh flat lithium battery packs seem to weigh around 55 grams, which is under my estimate of 68 grams.
So the battery is only 65% of the total weight of the device. And it means that the battery Sony is using is actually 247 W-h/Kg in terms of energy density, which is near the high end of lithium technology, but still within the 100-265W-h/Kg range given by Wikipedia.

So, if the above calculations are correct, a peltier device running at 150 mA isn't going to do much in terms of heating or cooling.
But I suppose it will give many people a placebo effect. The back of the neck is a sensitive area.
 
That's real nice and all until the battery explodes taking your head off with it! (ok yea that's not likely but exploding batteries are a thing.)

I can't wait to hear about people who put on the special setup underneath a button down shirt, tie, and suite Jacket, then set their expensive armani jacket on fire with the cooler.

I don't see this working out at all.

People who are working out doors are sweating their ***** off. Unless this thing is water proof I don't see how it will work.

Same for the cold environment. If you're working your *** off you're too busy loosing layers.

Who's it good for? People at the bus stop or train station rubbing their hands together to keep warm. Really that's about it.
 
I work doing inspection of construction sites for the engineering firm I work for. I want it. So you all just shut your doubty moostafah moufs!

It'll work. When has Sony ever not had a great idea that they implemented.....
 
Betamax is the most glaring one but there are several others.
 
It could use a mini phase change unit, way more efficient.
 
The idea is superb. I always wanted a portable air conditioner because I suffer badly from the heat in transport and can even faint. Even the one in the house caused me many problems. I didn't turn to a superb company that answered me quickly and politely, came in a few hours, and repaired me in a few minutes. And then they explained to me how to do it so that I wouldn't have any more problems. Excellent isn't it. If you know where I could get a portable air conditioner from the internet, high quality, and reasonable price, please answer the comment, I will be very grateful.
 
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They actually use something like this in Japan. I still want one.


And Betamax was the shizzle.... Briefly
 
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