Hp Tablet Pros Blog: UCLA polarizing filter lets LCDs harvest and recycle energy

UCLA polarizing filter lets LCDs harvest and recycle energy – Cell Phones & Mobile Device Technology News & Updates | Geek.com .wp-polls .pollbar {margin: 1px;font-size: 6px;line-height: 8px;height: 8px;background-image: url('http://www.geek.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-polls/images/default/pollbg.gif');border: 1px solid #c8c8c8;}

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Tech Support Chips Apple Mobile Games Gadgets Software The Lounge Geek.com Stuff Cameras Cell Phones Computers Electronics Laptops Memory Monitors PDAs Software Storage Devices Video Games All Products Search: All Articles Products Glossary Forums Username: Password: Cancel Forgot Username / Password? Back to Mobile Print UCLA polarizing filter lets LCDs harvest and recycle energy Aug. 12, 2011 (5:40 am) By: Matthew Humphries

LCD is the predominant technology used in most of the displays we include in devices today. And while the display technology is constantly being updated to allow for better efficiency and image output, LCDs still account for the majority of energy used in portable devices.

Engineers at UCLA have been working to rectify that problem, not by reducing the energy required by an LCD, but recycling it instead.

Liquid Crystal Displays work by sandwiching a layer of molecules between two transparent electrodes and two polarizing filters. A combination of a backlight and control of the voltage applied to each pixel of the display allows light to escape and create images we see as the viewer.

This control of light used to display images is a wasteful system because that’s all the light is used for. The engineers at UCLA realized that whenever the display is active and emitting light, it can also recycle it with one simple change: the polarizing filters can be switched out for a new filter that includes photovoltaic properties. It’s called a polarizing organic photovoltaic.

By using the new polarizing filter a device can harvest energy from the LCD as it is being used. So rather than the energy being wasted just as viewable light, it can also act as an energy generator itself. But the energy generation doesn’t just happen when the display is in use. The new polarizing filter will also continue to generate energy from natural light just like a typical solar panel.

If such a filter were used in a smartphone it could significantly increase battery life even if you have the screen active for hours each day. When your phone dims the screen to save power it will also continue to refill the battery as long as there’s a decent light source for the photovoltaic filter it to use, for example, you leave it in direct sunlight.

The initial research done by Professor Yang and his team at UCLA has found the new filter can recycle as much as 75% of the wasted photons from the backlight. Apply that to a portable device and you gain battery life. Use it in a non-portable devices without a battery and there should be significant energy efficiency gains.

This potentially breakthrough technology has the potential to quickly replace the polarizing filters currently used in LCDs if the energy harvesting potential is as high as predicted. It also offers a transparent solution to the issue of where to put a solar panel on a portable device, meaning a design-focused company like Apple should have no issue including it on a future iPhone or iPad.

The research paper will be printed in the next edition of Advanced Materials.

Read more at the UCLA Newsroom

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