Comprehensive evaluation of a photovoltaic energy harvesting system in smart clothing for mountain rescuers

Abstract

A photovoltaic energy harvesting system has been developed for application in smart clothing for mountain rescuers. The generator has been assembled from flexible organic photovoltaic modules and integrated with a specially designed clothing. A power conversion and storage system has been prototyped, providing a USB standard output for supplying active clothing components or standalone devices. The clothing with the integrated energy harvester has been comprehensively tested in respect of both electrical performance and ergonomics. An electrical test methodology has been developed, based on the characteristics recorded in the field and their simulation in a laboratory. This enabled repetitive tests under identical real-life conditions. Ergonomic tests involved diverse physical activities performed by mountain rescuers, simulating their true operations, but conducted in a training room for the sake of standardisation. The prototype system has substantially extended the operating time of a realistic load (equivalent to a smartphone) by providing an extra 1.91 Wh of energy in the best case of irradiance in autumn and 0.77 Wh for a typical case with varying irradiance and temperature. Ergonomics ratings by end users have been good to very good and they have been generally in favour of using power harvesters integrated with their clothing.