Laser-tailored (measured and cut) one piece body-suits with Variable Thermal
Resistance. The VTR might be achieved by changing the heat-transfer
characteristics of the material by changing its physical vs chemical
structure- ie. microscopic di-pole fibers whose alignment can be altered
with a small electric field generated by conductors woven into the suit. To
increase thermal resistance, the structure should be changed to represent
a pattern which traps the air (or other gas) more effectively. This system
could also be used to change other characteristics of the clothing such as
porosity. Individual expression could be naturally facilitated by
incorporating materials whose reflective / absorptive characteristics (colour,
etc) are altered by output from sensors of your personal bio-rhythms,
magnetic field, electrical brain activity etc.
"What-Ever..."
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Colin ' ` ' ` /
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"I can understand fulfilling a great idea if it is a rare occurrence in
one's awareness, but if it's one of a thousand that invade your thoughts
daily, intellectual disposition forces one to consider the roots of the
dilemma and implore answers to the philosophy of action."
Well, first, "laser tailoring" is irrelevant to the material being
used. Laser cutting is quite common, although it's usually used
on stacks of fabrics. Custom laser cutting has been used for bespoke
suits by one of the major suitmakers, and for jeans by one of the
major jeans manufacturers. Automated measurement at the point of
sale has also been tried, not too successfully.
Active fabrics are probably feasible, but making them cheap,
rugged, and washable will be difficult. If you can actually make
a material with such properties, it's probably more useful as a
large-screen display technology, for billboards and such.
Variable-opacity drapes are also a possiblity. A wearable
material has many additional constraints.
For a good fabric patent, look up the Gore-Tex patent. It's
beautifully written, and clearly describes a useful, and successful,
material.
Also check out the Things that Think lab at MIT. They have
some activity in this area.
John Nagle