The main tank, brimful with ideas. Enjoy them, discuss them, take them. - Of course, this is also the #1 place for new submissions!
By gorkov
#11540
Having recently spent a bunch of time in some of the world's hottest deserts, I wonder why no one has marketed a portable solar umbrella hooked up to a drinks cooler, or small cooling fan, or one of them electric cooling collar contraptions. Googling for 'solar umbrella' points to large unwieldy umbrellas good for patios and backyards - hardly convenient for hauling around.

Making these should be a no-brainer. You'd have to fix flexible solar panels on top of a folding umbrella, and run a wire through the handle. I bet somebody with a low cost production facility already making umbrellas could easily adopt this and do a pilot batch. You'd start by marketing in the Sky Magazine and the like, hopefully, it catches on to start mass production.

Reward: I'd personally test one of these in the Atacama Desert in Chile next July (a week long 250km ultra run).
By sarahtia
#11590
I think this is a good idea, though I'm not sure how many of them you'd sell. Not everyone goes out into the desert, although many of wish we could of course. ;-)
By AaronBurns
#11604
You could utilize your design and achieve a patent simply by re-inventing your umbrella to keep it's shape no matter weather you are running or in high wind or both.
I have found they act like sails in the wind especially when running in the wind.
You could add over-lapping small slits and flaps to keep the Sun and heat out and allow the wind through.
The slits would be covered by larger triangles of material attached only at the two furthest ends completely covering the slit. ;-D
Wind, debris, through and Sun and heat out with fan running.
By AaronBurns
#11605
AaronBurns wrote:You could utilize your design and achieve a patent simply by re-inventing your umbrella to keep it's shape no matter weather you are running or in high wind or both.
I have found they act like sails in the wind especially when running in the wind.
You could add over-lapping small slits and flaps to keep the Sun and heat out and allow the wind through.
The slits would be covered by larger "Rectangles" of material attached only at the two furthest ends completely covering the slit. ;-D
Wind, debris, through and Sun and heat out with fan running.
By mekarls
#12188
This would be too expensive, heavy, fragile and would need other things like inverters and battries.
I think the beach is a more likely place to use it. ;-)
By InventR
#12209
Good idea - I can see this working at the beach. I would'nt however be caught walking through a desert with one hand holding a heavy umbrella and the other a heavy cooler - My efficiency would be like filling up a big thirsty SUV idling at the gas station.
By bookwormjackie
#12929
mekarls wrote:This would be too expensive, heavy, fragile and would need other things like inverters and battries.
I think the beach is a more likely place to use it. ;-)
That's a cool idea, and doesn't have to be used only in the desert. But it's really not too convenient to carry around. I hope people can work towards making such kinds of convenient portable solar umbrella. ;D
By mauraleigh
#15206
With the latest photovoltaic fabrics and a very compact battery, I think this would be very doable provided that you don't aren't trying to get more than 12v for a little travel cooler. It might be too expensive to make now, but I don't think that it would necessarily be too heavy.
By jhonebhrestom
#20633
Well its really a good concept of embedding the coolers on to the solar umbrella and drinking stuffs in a portable umbrella.Truly I didn't have think like this way.Anyways its cool concept.
By pantangliubao
#20657
Because of the development in this field, the need for networkers who have advanced training is increasing every day. But for the most experienced professionals, to keep up with the latest technology is a huge challenge. In order to keep competitive and successful when looking for the job, the proper training is very important to explore your knowledge and strengthen your profession. On the basis of this idea, Cisco Company developed Cisco professional 640-816 certification plan with the purpose to meet the increasing demand of the world for computer network professional experiencing more trainings.
Cisco 640-863 Career Certification can provide rich and flexible options for people because of its principle of crossing the network design and network support. A CIsco Certification is most respected network of certified program in this industry, and Cisco Certifications are classified into different technical proficiency certification: assistant, professionals and experts.
These certifications promote the realization of Cisco partnership certification—gold partners, silver partners, major partners and global support. If a person can get one certification from Cisco, he has just got both knowledge and ability to handle almost all problems about the network design and support. Besides, his professional skills are recognized by the public.
Cisco certification provides a development approach for continuously strengthening skills in network occupation. So far there are various kinds of certification exams. such as: 640-553, 640-822 and so on. One should think twice before choosing which to take.
We should first understand that every training fee and exam fees of the certification examinations from Cisco Certifications to CCNA Certifications are different, from tens of dollars to thousand dollars. If you participate in every certification examination just like Cisco 642-436 exam, then it's obviously unaffordable in economy. So the right move is to choose one or several proper certification exams according to one's own practical condition. Such as according to the likely jobs you may take up in future, to urgently needed talents in society and to your interests and specialized courses you've learnt in school.
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