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Born from an idea of Chinese researchers

According to what was published by the British “Daily Mail”, the cloak is the brainchild of researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and is designed to keep electric cars cool in summer and warm in winter. It should be noted that the cloak performs its function without the need for any external energy input.

The effect of high and low temperatures

The performance of electric cars is known to suffer in extreme cold, because batteries work less efficiently when temperatures drop to zero and below zero degrees Celsius.

The lithium-ion batteries in most modern electric cars rely on a chemical reaction to store and release electricity, but as it gets colder the process slows down and therefore limits battery performance, leading to a significant loss of usable range.

ideal temperature

As engineers at general electric charging company Osprey explain, electric vehicle batteries have an ideal temperature of 20-25 degrees Celsius.

The electrical charge stock of batteries in warmer weather is adversely affected because it greatly interferes with the chemical reaction and energy transfer in the battery. So, the researchers designed a thermal mantle that could dampen natural temperature fluctuations.

Silica fibers and aluminum alloys

Dubbed the Janus Thermal Cloak, the cloak has two main components: an outer layer that reflects sunlight and an inner layer that helps trap heat inside. The outer layer consists of fine silica fibers coated with flakes of hexagonal boron nitride, a ceramic-like material. The fibers are twisted and woven together into a fabric, before being bonded to the inner layer of aluminum alloy.

Exceptional efficacy

To evaluate the effectiveness of the thermal blanket, the team of researchers conducted their own experiments on electric vehicles parked outdoors in Shanghai: they tested an open car whose cabin temperature reached 50.5 degrees Celsius at noon. But when the thermal blanket was placed on the car, the internal cabin temperature stopped at 22.8°C, 27.7°C lower.

In the middle of the night, the temperature of the cars covered by the thermal blanket never dropped below 0°C, 6.8°C more than outside.

Heating without power

“For the first time, warming of about 7 degrees Celsius above room temperature can be achieved during winter nights, and surprisingly, there is no energy input or sunlight and warming can still be caused,” he said. stated Dr. Which.

real world applications

The team of researchers says the thermal blanket is purpose-built to make it easier to scale production in the future, and large-scale field tests and analyzes are underway to translate the thermal blanket’s metrics and performance into real-world economic benefits, such as the percentage of battery life we ​​can increase or the amount of electricity that would be saved annually if the use of the thermal blanket were extended to vehicles and buildings.