Apple eyes gadgets with built-in solar panels
Company buffs its green credentials with another patent application relating to solar cells integrated onto the surface of small devices, such as iPods.
Apple has its eye on the sun as a source of energy for iPods.
Company employees have applied for a patent relating to powering electronic devices using integrated solar cells, the Patently Apple site has uncovered. Called Power Management Circuitry and Solar Cells, the application dates back to August 2008 and was officially published Thursday.
It appears, though, that it's not the first Apple patent application relating to solar-powered gadgets. In October 2006, a more general patent under the title "Solar Cells on Portable Devices" was filed by at least one of the same people. When that application was published in 2008, it was traced back to Apple iPod engineers.
Rather than have a separate solar panel, the 2006 patent application envisions a small device, such as an iPod, with a transparent solar cell on its surfaces.
The more recent patent application deals with power electronics for managing electricity flow from multiple solar cells on a device. For example, the patent application outlines methods for ensuring that there is sufficient voltage from solar cells to power the device or charge its battery.
Disclosure of the solar-power-related patent application comes a week after a patent application from Apple relating to home energy management surfaced. In that case, Apple engineers described a method for powering multiple electronic devices efficiently using a home's wiring to manage the flow of power and data.