Patent Application
20060130889
The present invention generally relates to the field of solar cells and electronic devices that utilize solar cells, and more particularly relates to solar panels and optical films utilized by electronic devices such as wireless communication devices and cellular phones.
Electronic devices, such as wireless communication devices including cell phones, portable two-way radios, wireless communicators, and the like, are being used by a large range of users for a wide variety of applications. As demand for newer features and functions increases, power consumption demands continue to increase from an energy source, typically a rechargeable battery, found in many portable wireless communication devices such as cell phones. The life of a battery is very important to users of portable electronic devices, including users of wireless communication devices. A short battery life can be detrimental to the commercial viability of a product such as a wireless communication device. Unfortunately, advancements in energy source technology have not been able to keep pace with additional new features that continue to additionally drain the energy source on wireless communication devices. This is an ongoing problem.
Solar cells, or sometimes referred to as solar panels, represent a supplemental or alternative source of energy for some electronic devices. Some devices, such as portable calculators, have both sufficiently large available surface area and sufficiently low power needs that some of these electronic devices have been powered entirely by one or more solar cells. Unfortunately, many electronic devices, including for example cellular telephones and other wireless communications devices have had both a higher power demand and an often-limited available surface area for locating a solar cell on the outer surface of the device. As a result, solar cells have not been viewed as a satisfactory supplemental or alternative power source for such devices.
While there has been a constant need in improving power performance of a portable electronic device, such as a wireless communication device, and while solar power solutions have been promising, one of the issues with solar panel technology is its very unappealing appearance, being mostly very dark with shining electrodes on its surface. This generates a great mismatch in the visual appearance between the solar panel and the exterior of the hosting electronic device. This problem is particularly severe with consumer products to which users associate a high premium value with respect to product aesthetics and particularly to a product's external cosmetic appearance.
Therefore a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.
According embodiments of the present invention, a solar panel mounting arrangement, and electronic device, and a wireless device, includes a solar panel; and a wavelength selectively reflective optical film being disposed in front of the solar panel for the optical film to substantially reflect a pre-selected band of solar irradiation frequencies incident on a front surface of the optical film while allowing solar irradiation frequencies outside of the selected band to substantially pass through the optical film and irradiate the solar panel. The substantially reflected pre-selected band of solar irradiation frequencies can be in the visible light range.
The optical film can include at least one of an iconic pattern, a company logo, and a photo, that is visible from the front of the optical film. The optical film can be of the holographic film type.
The solar panel can be located outside or inside a housing of the device while allowing solar irradiation outside of the housing to substantially irradiate the solar panel. In the case where the solar panel is inside the housing, at least a portion of the housing is substantially optically transparent to solar irradiation.
The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views and which together with the detailed description below are incorporated in and form part of the specification, serve to further illustrate various embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages all in accordance with the present invention.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting; but rather, to provide an understandable description of the invention.
The terms “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term plurality, as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term another, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms including and/or having, as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term coupled, as used herein, is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.
The present invention, according to an embodiment, overcomes problems with the prior art by providing a new and novel solar panel arrangement including a wavelength selectively reflective optical film, a wavelength selectively reflective holographic film, or similar reflective structure, disposed in front of a solar panel to significantly enhance the aesthetic appearance of the solar panel while minimally degrading, if at all, the efficiency of conversion of solar energy by the solar panel. The new and novel solar panel arrangement can be disposed on various surfaces of a housing of an electronic device, including external surfaces and/or internal surfaces of the housing.
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Commercial grade holographic films that are useful for alternative embodiments of the present invention are manufactured by, and commercially available from, a number of manufacturers, such as Dupont and Dai Nippon. Holographic film products are sold under different brand names for a variety of applications. Further, the tuning of wavelengths for an optical film to enhance visual appearance can be done by recording and playing back methods and mechanisms that are well known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art. Furthermore, suitable multi-layer films made of plastic or polymeric materials are manufactured by, and commercially available from, the 3M Company. Other types of narrow band optical films suitable for various alternative applications of the present invention are manufactured by, and are commercially available from, various manufacturers, as should be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the present discussion. For example, a cholesteric liquid crystal film is available from Dai Nippon or from Merck.
The wavelength of the reflective band 304 of the optical film 202 is tuned, in one embodiment, to maximize its visual appearance to human eyes. An iconic pattern such as a company logo or photo can be embedded into the optical film 202 to create a more desired visual effect or for advertising value. One such optical film 202 comprises a holographic film that can be made to reflect different colors of ambient lights while transmitting the complementary wavelength portion of the ambient light. Note also that the optical film 202, according to alternative embodiments, may comprise a multi-layer film without deviating from the teachings of the present invention.
A combination of a visible wavelength selectively reflective optical film 202 and an underneath solar panel 204 can be disposed at any surface of a housing of an electronic device, including any combination of external and internal surfaces of the housing, as will be discussed in more detail below. The optical film, in one embodiment, can be attached to the solar panel via an optically clear adhesive, or by other means that allows significant transmission of solar irradiance to reach the solar panel. To maximize the power collection with such a combination, the selective reflection band wavelength 304 of the film 202 should be adjusted away from the peak region of the absorption band 306 of the solar panel 204. At the same time, the wavelength of the reflective band 304 of the optical film 202 should be tuned to maximize its visual appearance to human eyes. Furthermore, an iconic pattern such as a company logo or photo can be embedded into the optical film to create a customized visual effect. This visual design and appearance of the optical film 202 can be chose for advertising purposes. For example, a marketing message, a customized image, or other combination of visible elements tailored for particular customers or particular market segments, can be combined in the visible appearance of the optical film 202. This new and novel arrangement of optical film disposed in front of a solar panel utilizes the externally visible surface area both for aesthetically pleasing appearance and for advertising. This visible surface area would have been otherwise wasted by a conventional solar panel located on an exterior surface of an electronic device.
A test was performed using an exemplary iDEN cellular phone manufactured by Motorola, Inc. A commercially available solar flex, identified as an Iowa Thinfilm MPT3.6-37 1.5″×2.5″ solar flex, was mounted onto an iDEN cell phone battery door. A tester wore this cell phone on the tester's belt as it would be normally used in a typical outdoor environment. The solar flex produced an average of 66 mW (18 mA/3.6 volt) over a 7 hour period or 454 mWHr. This level of performance would provide a significant amount of power to improve the battery performance of a cell phone. The same solar flex, was then combined with a holographic film arranged in front of the solar flex. The hologram used in this test was green color. When the solar flex was fully covered by the holographic film, the power measurement yielded an over 80% power collection (or less than 20% power reduction) as compared with a solar flex without the added holographic film. The visual appearance of the cell phone was also drastically enhanced, especially with a hologram with iconic pattern being visible to a user instead of the black with silver metallic electrodes of the solar flex.
Moreover, the iconic optical film approach discussed above could be designed to cover only a small portion of the overall solar flex, while maintaining the enhanced visual appearance of the cell phone. See, for example,
According to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
The wireless device 400 operates under the control of a device controller/processor 408, that switches the wireless device 400 between receive and transmit modes. In receive mode, the device controller 408 electrically couples an antenna 414 to a receiver in an RF Interface 412. The receiver decodes the received signals and provides those decoded signals to the device controller 408. In transmit mode, the device controller 408 electrically couples the antenna 414 to a transmitter in the RF Interface 412. The device controller 408 operates the transmitter and receiver in the RF Interface 412 according to instructions stored in the memory 410. Additionally, the memory 410 stores data from a received message for playback of the message to a user of the wireless device 400.
The wireless device 400 further includes an audio input/output interface 420 that receives decoded audio output signals, such as from the receiver in the RF Interface 412. The audio input/output interface 420 sends the received decoded audio signals to an audio output conditioning circuits that perform various conditioning functions such as to reduce noise or amplify the signal. A speaker (not shown) receives the conditioned audio signals and allows audio output for listening by a user. The wireless device 400 further includes additional user output interfaces, for example, a head phone jack (not shown) or a hands-free speaker (not shown) or an audible indicator (not shown).
The wireless device 400 also includes a microphone (not shown) for allowing a user to input audio signals into the wireless device 400. Sound waves are received by the microphone and are converted into an electrical audio signal. Audio input conditioning circuits receive the audio signal and perform various conditioning functions on the audio signal, for example, noise reduction. An audio input controller in the audio 10 interface 420 receives the conditioned audio signal and sends the signal to the device controller 408. The device controller 408 then can route the audio signals to a destination such as to the transmitter in the RF Interface 412 such as for transmitting into a wireless network, or such as to store in memory 410 the audio signals.
The wireless device 400 also comprises a user input interface 416 that includes a keyboard (not shown), and other user input devices such as buttons and switches, for allowing a user to enter user input information into the wireless device 400. The wireless device 400 further comprises a camera (not shown) for allowing a user to capture still images or video images into memory 410. Furthermore, the wireless device includes additional user input interfaces, for example, touch screen technology (not shown), a joystick (not shown), or a scroll wheel (not shown).
A user output interface includes a display (not shown) for displaying information to a user. A visual indicator (not shown) such as LED, lamp, or other visual indication on the display (not shown) is also included in the user output interface.
The electronic device 400 also includes a power source 406, such as a rechargeable battery. Power conditioning circuits 404 interface and condition power signals received from one or more solar panels, in this example arranged as a solar panel array 402. The conditioned power signals are coupled by the power conditioning circuits 404 to the power source 406. The one or more solar panels 402 collectively can provide significant power for recharging the battery to enhance the overall battery life of the power source 406.
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Although specific embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, those having ordinary skill in the art will understand that changes can be made to the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is not to be restricted, therefore, to the specific embodiments, and it is intended that the appended claims cover any and all such applications, modifications, and embodiments within the scope of the present invention.
