The team published a paper about their work in the journal Energy Technology. Under these conditions, each of the lenses still generates 200 microwatt of electric power-enough to operate devices such as a hearing aid, researchers said. In addition to working in outdoor sunlight, the glasses also can function indoor under illumination down to 500 Lux, the typical illumination of an office or a living area. The work demonstrates the use of organic solar cells for “consumer-oriented mobile applications,” he said. “The user does not feel any difference to normal sunglasses since the solar cells appear the same as toned lenses,” Landerer said. The displays show the illumination intensity and the ambient temperature as bar graphs. Researchers integrated a microprocessor and two small displays into the temples of the glasses, power for which is provided by the cells. The solar-cell lenses fit into the eyeglass frames have a thickness of about 1.6 millimeters and weigh about six grams-similar to typical sunglasses frames. (Photo: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) Researchers developed solar eyeglasses with lens-fitted semi-transparent organic solar cells that supply two sensors and electronics in the temples with electric power. “We thought it is a great idea to use this ‘area’-especially the lenses as the biggest area, for energy harvesting of sun or indoor light.” “Many people in the world wear eyeglasses every day,” he told Design News. What if your eyeglasses not only protected your eyes from sunlight, but also absorbed its light to generate energy? That’s the idea behind new solar eyeglasses developed by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany that can supply devices with electricity.Ī team at the KIT Energy Center have taken advantage of organic solar cells, which are flexible, transparent, and lightweight, to explore the use of a new solar-energy-generating form factor-in this case, wearable eyeglasses, said Dominik Landerer, an engineer at KIT who worked on the project.
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