A portable personal air conditioner? That is what you intend be Reon Pocket, which is about the size of a smartphone and looks like an Apple Magic Mouse, can cool your body by up to 5°C on sweltering days.
Additionally, it can also warm you during the winter, reaching a maximum of an additional 10ºC.
Reon Pocket
To use the device, you have to slide the cooling unit into a special inner pocket on a t-shirt, which is located right between the shoulder blades. Sony is selling custom-designed t-shirts to accompany the Reon Pocket for about $20, but presumably, you could sew one onto your own t-shirts for the device, for a few bucks.
Once you've outfitted your clothing with the cooling device just below your neck, download the free Reon Pocket app on Google Play or the App Store for iOS devices. From there, you can switch between cooling and heating and adjust temperature with one touch.
The Reon Pocket device should make contact with your skin (through your shirt) to cool you down. Use the Peltier effect, a concept in thermodynamics, for cooling, unlike those little misting contraptions you can see parents using at Disney World to cool their kids.
The built-in lithium-ion battery lasts about two to four hours, depending on the settings you use, and it takes about 2.5 hours to recharge the battery using a USB-C-style port.
Although sales of the device began on July 1, it does not seem easy to acquire one outside of Japan. Reon Pocket appears in the Japanese Amazon site for $172. It is unclear when the Reon Pocket will be made available to buyers in the rest of the world.
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The news
Using air conditioning inside your shirt would be cheaper than putting it in a room
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.