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Apple 'Evaluating' Solar Cell Vendors for Future Products?
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iPhone? In the sun?
How do you resolve any over heating issues?
That seems to be a problem.
Thomas
How do you resolve any over heating issues?
That seems to be a problem.
Thomas
The weight and capacity of batteries are limiting factors right now. Whoever makes great leaps forward is going to have a big market advantage.
But the trouble with solar power, for many of us geeks, is that we never go outside!
But the trouble with solar power, for many of us geeks, is that we never go outside!
The utility that sends you the monthly bill doesn't do R&D. A utility is a public service, not a startup corp that invents brand new generation technologies like next gen solar PV.
First, if people (mostly environmentalists) ever wanted hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, it's because it would shift us away from oil dependence, not because corporations thought it would be cost effective to spend billions of dollars to build hydrogen pipelines and refueling stations all over your neighborhood. Second, the current reality is nobody wants hydrogen fuel cell vehicles anymore. Everyone wants electric vehicles.
Your conspiracy model doesn't apply to utilities. Your money flow is all wrong, utilities don't do R&D or hold next-gen tech patents, and a large chunk of them are municipal, where money ends up going not to a few wealthy individuals, but back to the city that owns them to fund general services.
There was a solar powered case/charger for the iPhone and iPod touch called the Surge by Novothink. An interesting idea, but the reviews I've read about the Surge were not overly stellar. It appears that Novothink went out of business, though. Their website is now a generic landing site and their Twitter account was last updated in October 2010.
Phones + Solar Panels
I'm interested in the potential applications we might see with such technology where an integrated solar panel could recapture some of the power from the light produced by the device or the surrounding environment. This still looks to be a pipe dream for now, but hopefully in 5 to 10 years we will scoff at how we had to use CABLES to charge up our phones.
Integrated solar panels can have a certain level of distinguishing factor to a device, but I could not imagine Apple slapping a solar panel on one of their products unless it was seamless and indistinguishable from the rest of the product. Unfortunately, there are quite a few products on the market which look like some frankenstein project created in someone's garage.
Even if solar panels are adhered to a phone, there is an issue with heat. A recent blog post on Nokia's Solar Charging Blog mentioned that their experimental solar powered phone laying on a car's dashboard reached 59 °C (138 °F). I encountered a similar issue with the Solio Classic-i, which cannot exceed 49 °C (120 °F) before the Solio shuts down to protect itself from heat damage.
At this time, solar panels on a phone are not efficient enough to be able to keep a phone sufficiently charged -- especially a power-hungry smart phone. Last week I ran an experiment to determine if I could go the entire week by charging my iPhone by only using solar power. I came fairly close and only plugged my iPhone into my computer twice (once for an iOS update, and the other time to charge up my phone since I didn't have my Solio on me). It is possible, but it takes some work to conserve battery power and harvest enough solar power in the meantime.
I'm interested in the potential applications we might see with such technology where an integrated solar panel could recapture some of the power from the light produced by the device or the surrounding environment. This still looks to be a pipe dream for now, but hopefully in 5 to 10 years we will scoff at how we had to use CABLES to charge up our phones.
Integrated solar panels can have a certain level of distinguishing factor to a device, but I could not imagine Apple slapping a solar panel on one of their products unless it was seamless and indistinguishable from the rest of the product. Unfortunately, there are quite a few products on the market which look like some frankenstein project created in someone's garage.
Even if solar panels are adhered to a phone, there is an issue with heat. A recent blog post on Nokia's Solar Charging Blog mentioned that their experimental solar powered phone laying on a car's dashboard reached 59 °C (138 °F). I encountered a similar issue with the Solio Classic-i, which cannot exceed 49 °C (120 °F) before the Solio shuts down to protect itself from heat damage.
At this time, solar panels on a phone are not efficient enough to be able to keep a phone sufficiently charged -- especially a power-hungry smart phone. Last week I ran an experiment to determine if I could go the entire week by charging my iPhone by only using solar power. I came fairly close and only plugged my iPhone into my computer twice (once for an iOS update, and the other time to charge up my phone since I didn't have my Solio on me). It is possible, but it takes some work to conserve battery power and harvest enough solar power in the meantime.
