Ambientech SolarFold and SolarFan are Folding Mobile Charging Systems

AmbienTech SolarFold and SolarFan are innovative personal-sized solar panel designs out of the conceptual stage and available for purchase. The compact solar panels fold into a small bundle that can be unpacked and placed for charging.

The AmbienTech SolarFold and SolarFan use spherical-based solar cells, which allow them to remain thin, flexible and more durable than other types of photovoltaic arrays. The SolarFan also has a cute little tripod to make positioning the solar array easier. The cost for either unit is about $250 US.

They’re reasonably efficient, too, delivering 2W over USB and, in 10 minutes, are able to charge an iPhone enough to make a 3 minute call. (We’ll leave it as a reader exercise to figure out how many days would be required for a full charge.) Both models are available now.

USB seat gets a new face.

The USB interface is quite fascinating, it’s got an entire peripheral industry started to cater to its existence! We have USB hubs, compatible heads for car-charging, compatible plugs for wall sockets, etc.

To cut this long route of buying compatible peripherals just for the sake of charging, why not to include the USB seat into a normal socket plate? Let it sit pretty next to the 3-pin socket just as seen in the picturew above!

A simple idea, designed by Lv Jianhua, He Dawei, Zhou Hanxiao & Xu Yao which snapped an iF Concept Award.