Future Apple Devices May Be Solar-Powered (patent filing)

[jpak]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,146307-c,businesscenter/article.html

Employees at Apple have filed a patent for integrating solar cells into portable devices by placing them underneath the layers of a touch-sensitive display, according to the filing.

Solar power could help make devices truly portable, freeing from the need for wires to connect them to a power supply.

When generating electricity from solar panels, the larger the panel the better -- but as the patent "Solar cells on portable devices" warns, after allowing space for buttons, screens and a way to hold the device, only a small area is left on most devices for solar cells.

One of the ways around that suggested in the patent is to stack a touch-sensitive layer, a display and solar panel on top of one another. That could make Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch good candidates for such a power supply, as the display occupies almost the entire face of those devices.

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[eppur_se_muova]

1. Lots of Apple's computers have translucent cases ...

one of the first things I thought of was "they could line the case with solar cells" and even put them under the keyboard (on laptops). The computer may not have a direct line-of-sight to the Sun from every part, but indirect light still produces some power. A little surprising they are just now getting into this.

PV add-ons have been around for many years -- since the first laptops, almost -- but it's surprising no one has thought to line the entire outside case with PV's. The batteries would be recharging a little even if you were carrying it under your arm with the lid closed,and the lid would be collecting reflected light even though it might be facing the "wrong" direction.

ON EDIT: The MacBook Air would have been a primo candidate for this. Even if it didn't eliminate the need for external power altogether, it would tremendously extend the length of time between recharges.