Apple Inc. Considers Solar Power Converters For iPhone, MacBook

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) wants to do their part in making the technology industry a more environmentally-friendly market. The iPhone maker recently filed a patent titled “Power management systems for accepting adapter and solar power in electronic devices“. Although this isn’t a completely new solar power solution, it is a proposed method that would utilize existing technologies as well as be produced with components that are currently available.

Apple Inc. Considers Solar Power Converters For iPhone, MacBook
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Gadgets and electronics become more powerful with each generation. Portable gadgets such as smartphones and tablets have limited capacity which means they need to be charged on a frequent basis. As the iPad maker stated, these devices are dependent on the main electricity which comes from a wall outlet.

iPhones and MacBooks only accept (DC) voltages

There are purported solutions like solar panels, but such existing technology uses external circuits in order to convert solar power into something compatible for the device. iPhones and MacBooks only accept direct current (DC) voltages.

Integrated solar panels are a viable option for their products, however it would bulk up the devices. The integrated power management is to feature a system-micro controller(SMC) and charger. This would work by power flowing to the system from a photovolatic solar panel or AC-to-DC.

Making solar changes would enhance Apple products

Mikey Campbell for Apple Insider elaborated, “In this embodiment, charger’s power stage incorporates what is known as a buck converter, or step-down DC-to-DC converter. Incoming power is monitored by a charger IC, converted to an appropriate voltage and fed into either an input current loop, a battery current loop, an output voltage loop, or an input voltage loop to control charging. The SMC monitors system power metrics like battery charge, health and input power type, among others, and manages the power stage accordingly.”

Making solar changes in such devices would enhance Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products and make them far more environmentally friendly.

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