Apple Planning a Solar-Powered iPod & iPhone

"We want to see solar go beyond major power generation. The iPhone is one example."

Michael Filler, CalTech photovoltaics expert.

Apple is reported to be working on solar-powered versions of the iPhone and iPod. Now, how cool is that! Call it fortuitous, or yet another example of Steve Jobs' marketing genius, given the high price of oil, the news couldn't be more timely.

An Apple patent application describes technology to integrate solar cells into portable devices. Apple appears to be trying to innovate in the integration of the solar cells by packaging solar cells right into the device in an unobtrusive way. Electricity-generating cells could be placed underneath the device's display. Specifically, the patent application details the use of "a semitransparent display with a solar cell placed underneath it.

The huge difference between earlier solar-powered consumer technologies and the patent for which Apple filed is the amount of power consumed by the product, according to Michael Filler, a Caltech postdoctoral scholar specializing in photovoltaics in a Forbes report on Apple's plans. According to Filler's calculations, it would take 250,000 to 1 million solar-powered wrist watches to generate the energy needed to power one iPhone (and keep the watches ticking). In other words, "the rate of energy consumption of the iPhone is about 250,000 to 1 million times larger than a standard sports wrist watch."

Filler's calculation is for power consumption rates when both are being used, and take into account that the watch is used 24/7 while the iPhone is used for periods of time and then stored. Concerns exist over the application of solar energy in portable devices such as cell phones, which are typically stored in pockets or purses and therefore are not constantly exposed to light. Also, while silicon solar cells do not need direct sunlight to work, they will collect a lot less energy indoors or on a cloudy day. The most efficient solar cells on the market convert the sun's energy into electricity at about 20% efficiency, Filler told Forbes.

On a perfectly sunny day, an iPhone equipped with Apple's potential new technology could generate around 1 watt of energy, Filler explained. "It's not going to be able to power the entire device but could extend battery life." Almost anything solar-powered would still need to have a battery to store the captured energy.

The most obvious obstacle Apple may face will be the potential limitation for a gadget meant to be so small to have a large enough surface area on which to embed the solar cells. "Apple has done such a superb job packing so much function into such a small package, that not much area is available to harvest sunlight, even if you were standing in the middle of the desert somewhere in Nevada," Filler said.

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.

Reading between the lines, Tim Cook, Apple’s COO, discussed the iPhone's potential in the long term the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium: “I need a bigger word than ‘enormous’ to describe it,” he said. Taken together, iPhone 1.5 and iPhone 2.0 bring the future into focus, propelling Apple closer to its oft-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.

The use of solar powered charging in portable devices is starting to generate more attention, for more immediate consumer use as well. When Vodafone announced its plan in April to reduce its emissions of the greenhouse gase CO2 by 50 percent by 2020, it also announced plans for solar-powered phone chargers and universal phone chargers for Vodafone-branded handsets.

The Forbes Report with CalTech's Michael Filler

Posted by Casey Kazan.

Comments

I will be waited for this solar i-pod it is very nice and amazing.Thank you for this post it has very useful information.please keep posting like this with this useful information

Posted by: nintendo dsi r4 | November 14, 2009 at 03:39 AM

Hmmm..What kind of solar cell battery will they put on to power up these powerful phones for more than a day? Just wondering...

Posted by: Adam Mack | January 04, 2011 at 04:55 PM

A great resource for solar cell battery.

http://www.buildsolar.net/solar-battery/solar-cell-battery-a-helpful-gadget-in-more-ways-than-one/

Posted by: Adam Mack | January 04, 2011 at 04:56 PM