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Wireless Charging for iPhone 4?

15 Jun 2010 by Graham Lyons - News , , No Comments


The power of the sun in the palm of your hand!

This could be the reality if Apple’s solar patents come to fruition. The latest in a slow trickle of solar based patents gives an exciting insight into what could bring the end to the need for plug in chargers. How many times have you been left hunting around a bag or in a drawer for your elusive charger while trying to complete an important call with your phone ready to die on you? With a solar powered phone all you would need to do is stand in the garden or possibly even just turn the lights on.

This isn’t exactly new technology (My watch is solar powered.) Plus Patently Apple, which keeps an eagle eye on all new stuff spewing out from Apple’s creative tech-wizards labs, reported on more solar power patents back in January 2010 and in 2008. But with the release of the new iPhone 4, which includes in its design a glass back, this could be the sign that this most user (and planet) friendly technologies could be just around the corner.

Apple employee Michael Rosenblatt filed the patent in 2008, the full text of which can be read at the US Patent & Trademark Office. If you don’t fancy reading the whole thing, here is the abstract to give you a taste:

“Integrated touch sensor and solar panel stack-up configurations that may be used on portable devices, particularly handheld portable devices such as a media player or phone are disclosed. The solar cell stack-up configurations may include one or more touch sensor layers and one or more solar cell layers. By integrating both the touch sensors and the solar cell layers into the same stack-up, surface area on the portable device may be conserved. The solar panel may be mounted face down or otherwise obstructed by a touch sensor or other component. In this configuration, the device may include light channels that allow light into the device and direct the light around the component and to the solar panel. A parabolic reflector may be used to direct the light.”

This diagram show how the system would not only have solar panels on the back, but also have them beneath the surface of the touch screen itself. This means double the amount of opportunities for solar energy sucking. And in another diagram it seems that this technology will not just be for the iPhone, but for all Apple’s media devices:

While it has been possible to buy plug in solar panels for your media devices for ages, having the whole panel/power management system fully incorporated within one of Apple’s already tech stuffed devices seems like an impossible task. But if anyone’s going to do it…



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