Posted on 12/25/2013 4:39:05 PM PST by bkopto
Power electronics maker FINsix Corporation has announced the development of what is being called the world's smallest laptop adaptor—one that is just a quarter the size of traditional models and just a sixth the weight—it comes as a standard wall plug, eliminating the "box on the ground" format so familiar to laptop users.
The new adaptor has come about due to the development of a new circuit design by MIT professor David Perreault—it's able to run at higher frequencies (between 30MHz and 300MHz-a thousand times faster than conventional adapters) due to a power reclaiming scheme he developed.
The result is a 65 watt power adapter that can be used to charge a variety of laptops or other devices such as smartphone or tablets (because it comes with a 2.1A USB connector)—it can even charge more than one device at a time.
FINSix says the tiny adapter is just the first of what will be a whole new line of power electronics devices based on the new circuit design—from AC/DC converters to power controllers in devices ranging from air conditioners to more efficient electric motors—all courtesy of the increased frequency range.
The new design allows for recycling power that in traditional designs is lost, preventing the loss of efficiency that typically occurs with other circuits when upping the frequency range.
Representatives for FINSix say the new design (which uses what they call Very High Frequency power conversion technology) leaps over conventional barriers and will pave the way for more efficient electronic devices that are also smaller and lighter.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
/johnny
I’m with you. However, I suspect its probably not something one might whip up after a quick trip to RadioShack.
=[ ]------->
Nice idea, but my laptop won’t charge from power applied to a USB port. Next generation perhaps.
It's FM. ;)
/johnny
That scheming Bastard.
Hmmm....
AC motored Hybrid Drivetrain Knuckle and use regen-braking back to a storage device with their Circuit?
How will this work with a "Graphene Ultra-Capacitor"?.... Wow a brave new world..
Just in time to miss Christmas! Thanks bkopto.
IF: it runs twice as hot, and only has 1/3 the life expectancy of the older brick types.
THEN: smaller is not so good.
FYI: issues the article does not address
From the description it sounds like a way to build a switching regulator without the typical trade-off in efficiency that comes as you increase the switching frequency. This would allow a big reduction in size due to the smaller passive components that could be used.
Revolutionary discovery of the month. Never to be heard from again.
If they go public, I’m buyin’ some of their stock.
probably using IGBT’s to run that fast. Surprised tht is hasn’t been used before
I’ll bet that passing radiated/conducted emissions was tricky.
/johnny
the unit provides 65 watts enough power for a laptop.
you wouldn’t be able to power the laptop from a USB charge port.
While I could be wrong, I’d think that with 2.1 amps you could power the laptop and have a bit left over for charging the battery. The laptop’s circuits though would need to be designed to allow that much input current through the USB port.
I have designed switching power supplies for a living. I’d like to believe this, but like Johnny, I want to see the schematic. How are they charging/discharging the gate capacitance so quickly? Power FETs or IGBT’s usually have large gate capacitance. I want to see how they eliminate this or get around it. They’d have to if they are going to run the switcher at 300 MHz.
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