Technical Editor Margery Conner's PowerSource streams the latest developments in electronic power design and related technologies. Follow Margery on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/margeryc.
Advertisement
Profile
RSS Feed
-
Add this blog to your RSS newsreader!
Recent Posts
- More on The Internet of Things: It may appeal to you if you’re a visionary or a systems company
- HP announces sensors for its “Central Nervous System for the Earth” (CeNSE)
- Power supplies for new LED applications fit in higher-margin markets
- Yes, you can trademark a color
- Pressure film gives snapshot of manufacturing process
- 2010 “Designing with LEDs” Workshop: Call for Papers
- Here’s a list of micro-inverter companies (and some proposed new installations)
- Solar micro-inverter addresses capacitor reliability issues
- Micro-inverters offer one solution for optimizing solar efficiency
- Memorial flame replaced by LEDs, financed by cell-phone antenna
Recent Comments
- gigantplsa on Here’s a list of micro-inverter companies (and some proposed new installations)
- Matt Schmidt on More on The Internet of Things: It may appeal to you if you’re a visionary or a systems company
- Dan Aquinas on Yes, you can trademark a color
- Andy T on HP announces sensors for its “Central Nervous System for the Earth” (CeNSE)
- Andy T on More on The Internet of Things: It may appeal to you if you’re a visionary or a systems company
Most Commented On
- This was not the right application for a compact fluorescent light (101)
- Utilities suffer from CFLs’ poor power factor (90)
- Not so easy to run an LED ”bulb” off of a dimmer switch – but here’s how (73)
- Proposed ban by China of rare-earth metal exports would affect hybrid cars, CFLs (67)
- Why diesel is so expensive (57)
Archives
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
By Category
- AC-DC (1)
- Aerospace & Defense (7)
- Analog (2)
- Analog Circuit Design (1)
- Automotive (33)
- Automotive (2)
- Battery Power (44)
- Body Electronics (1)
- Business and Marketing (5)
- Capacitor (2)
- Communication functions (2)
- Communications & Networking (7)
- Components, Hardware, Interconnect (79)
- Computers (2)
- Computers, boards, buses (2)
- Consumer Products (1)
- Convergence (1)
- DC-DC (1)
- Digital ICs (1)
- Discrete Components, Active (2)
- Discrete Components, Passive (2)
- Displays & Indicators (5)
- Displays and indicators (24)
- DSP Engineering (1)
- EDA (1)
- Electromechanical & Mechanical (1)
- Electronic Accessories (2)
- Electronics Business (1)
- Electronics Components (9)
- Electronics Environmental Issues (2)
- Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) (1)
- Embedded Systems (3)
- EMI (1)
- Enclosures (1)
- Environmental Compliance (1)
- Global Supply and Trade (1)
- Government/regulation (3)
- HBLED (10)
- Heat Dissipation (1)
- Hybrid & Green Cars (1)
- LED (35)
- Low Power (1)
- Low-Power (2)
- Manufacturing Operations (1)
- Medical Electronics (3)
- Mergers and Acquisitions (1)
- Motors (1)
- OLED (1)
- Passive components (2)
- Piezoelectric Crystal (4)
- Point-of-Load (1)
- Power components (3)
- Power Consumption (4)
- Power Management (1)
- Power Sources/Controllers (308)
- Power supplies (16)
- Power Supplies (71)
- Powertrain (1)
- Printed Circuit Boards (1)
- Robotics (1)
- Sensors (10)
- Solar/Photovoltaics (17)
- Supply Types (1)
- System Engineering (1)
- Technical Standards (1)
- Transformer (1)
- Transistors (3)
- Venture Capital & IPOs (1)
- Wireless (1)
- Wireless Networks (1)
Power Management Articles
- Secondary-side synchronous rectification boosts resonant converter efficiency
- EDN on Power Technology: Industry standards lead push toward energy-efficient computing
- New power-supply efficiency numbers herald a new era in power management
- Industry standards lead push toward energy-efficient computing
- Power-converter IC targets dimmable LEDs, needs no optoisolator
- More...
Blog
Monday, October 12, 2009
E-book reader has built-in thin-film solar cell
Oct 12 2009 11:30AM | Permalink |Comments (5) |
Here’s another entry into the e-book reader market, following on the heels reports that Barnes & Noble would also be fielding their own Kindle-killer. This most recent entry is from LG Display, and its twist is that it comes with a solar cell to boost outdoor reading time. LG says, "Exposure to sunlight for about four to five hours would extend the running time of the e-book’s battery by a day without the need for additional charging. This would allow longer outdoor use of the e-book and lessens worries about battery discharging."
LG’s interest in thin-film solar cells is that it uses a process (not surprisingly) similar to thin film displays that places electrodes onto a glass or plastic substrate rather than on a relatively heavy, expensive, and fragile silicon wafer. LG claims the efficiency at present for its thin-film solar cells is 9%, with 12% efficiency planned for next year, and 14% by 2012.
Related entries in: Power Sources/Controllers |
Reader Comments
at 10/15/2009 8:38:45 AM, Chris PE said:
I love all various applications of solar panels : flashlights, radios ,calculators and many other gadgets.This one is practical and costs nothing to run.Really awesome.
at 10/15/2009 1:12:31 PM, Peter G. said:
This is a bad idea.
Exposing the e-book reader itself to direct sunlight for 4-5 hours will substantially reduce its lifetime by increasing the heat load on the battery and electronics. Would you leave any electronic device to bake on the dashboard of your car all day? Of course not; that would be stupid.
If the solar panel isn't in direct sunlight, the energy it generates will be dramatically reduced. A spot of shade under an otherwise blue sky will provide a fraction as much power; under a cloudy sky, the output will be even more drastically reduced. Indoors? Forget it.
Over the entire lifetime of this device-- five years, let's say, with 1,000 hours per year of usage and an average power output of 100mW (estimates that are, frankly, wildly optimistic)-- this solar panel will generate 500 watt-hours of electricity. That much energy has a retail value of... drum roll, please... five cents.
On the other hand, the solar panel itself adds a high cost-- probably $50 to $100 at retail. It also makes the e-book reader heavier and more fragile.
Is the meager return on the investment worth the high cost? Only, I think, if you're the kind of person who values style over substance-- who thinks it's better to DO SOMETHING than to accomplish anything.
. png
at 10/16/2009 7:47:25 PM, seattle-fudd said:
Ho-hum. Keep adding bells & whistles to a fundamentally deficient product and you get... a fundamentally deficient product.
Make the display as large as an A-size page, and/or double the pixel density, add a backlight or cover-glass frontlight, net size smaller than a trade paperback, make it drop-in-tub immersion proof, wireless download & conversion from .pdf, .rtf, .doc, .txt, .html documents. PV does none of these.
at 10/19/2009 8:17:04 AM, Chris PE said:
Just a little correction. Modern solar panels do not need full sun.They work on a dispersed light as well.
at 10/20/2009 1:28:12 PM, Dude said:
The girl is cute, ya?
Post a comment
ADVERTISEMENT
About Us | Contact Us | Free Email Newsletters | Free Magazine Subscription | Advertising | 
RSS
©1997-2009 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Use of this Web site is subject to its Terms of Use | Privacy Policy