

Self charging phones aren't that far away - ArturoVM
http://engt.co/oeQ1eO

======
nodata
"By using polarizing organic photovoltaic cells, however, the LCD-packing
gizmo can recycle its own lost backlight energy, keeping itself charged for
longer." - wouldn't it be better to make the LCD not lose 75% of its energy?

~~~
jbri
That would be neat. But it's essentially impossible with a traditional LCD
screen - the physics don't work that way.

The way a backlit LCD works is that the backlight produces light, which goes
straight into a polarizer. That polarizer absorbs 50% of the light energy - if
it absorbed any less, then the light wouldn't be polarized. Then the light
passes through the liquid crystal element to another polarizer, which either
passes the light through or blocks it completely.

If you assume that half the screen is lit at any given time, it's physically
impossible to not absorb 75% of the light in the polarizer. There are really
only two ways to improve this, one is to produce polarized light directly, and
the other is to return the lost energy to the device some other way (as this
does).

~~~
jules
Beam splitting polarizers split the incoming unpolarized beam into two
polarized beams, or more commonly into one polarized beam and another somewhat
polarized beam. By stacking many of them you can obtain a polarizer that loses
less than 50% of the light.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizer#Beam-
splitting_polari...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarizer#Beam-
splitting_polarizers)

------
artursapek
Just as the headline gave me hope for the future, a giant Verizon pop-up with
no close button ruined my day.

~~~
AndrewDucker
Adblock!

~~~
artursapek
I have it! It didn't stop it!

~~~
AndrewDucker
How bizarre. I don't get any ads on that page. (Firefox 5, Adblock Plus)

------
donaq
Eh, if I understand correctly, it's not self-charging. It just discharges
slower.

~~~
artursapek
"What's really cool is these cells can recycle indoor or outdoor light as
well..."

It's self-charging at a rate perhaps slower than the rate at which is
discharges, for now, but it is effectively charging itself. The question is
does it break even?

~~~
StavrosK
Even if it does not break even, I would be more than happy with double the use
time of my mobile. Of course, it would be even better if I just never had to
charge it, but baby steps.

~~~
artursapek
Exactly.

------
tluyben2
It's always great to read, shame it takes years and years to get to market.
And I guess this would apply to all LCDs; would laptops benefit much; their
screens are also pulling a lot of battery right?

------
flocial
Powered by cold fusion? This is similar to eneloop batteries I suppose where
the energy circulates back in. Self-charging anything would change history.

~~~
jodrellblank
Self charging as in not needing an external power supply? I guess history
changed in 1986 then.

<http://www.seiko.co.uk/technology/kinetic>

