Power Integrations' LinkSwitch-II Delivers Five-star Rating for Cellphone-charger Power Consumption

(Product News, 2 Dec 2008)

Power Integrations's LinkSwitch-II family of power conversion ICs enables cellphone charger manufacturers to achieve the recently announced five-star rating for no-load energy consumption.

The new rating system, launched by the world's top five cellphone makers last month, covers all chargers currently sold by Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG Electronics. Efficiency ratings range from five stars for the most efficient chargers down to zero stars for units consuming the most energy.

If left plugged into an electrical outlet, cellphone chargers continue to use electricity even when disconnected from the phone. To achieve the coveted five-star rating, chargers may not exceed 30mW power consumption in no-load mode. This no-load power consumption is believed to account for up to two-thirds of the electricity used by mobile phones. Cellphone manufacturers estimate that if the three billion mobile devices in service today were using four- or five-star chargers, the world would save an amount of energy equal to the yearly output of two mid-sized power stations.

Power Integrations' LinkSwitch-II power conversion ICs enable manufacturers to achieve the five-star rating—and meet other efficiency specifications such as ENERGY STAR 2.0—without increasing the cost of their chargers. LinkSwitch-II utilizes Power Integrations' EcoSmart technology to automatically adjust power consumption when the charger enters a no-load condition. Further, LinkSwitch-II eliminates the need for optocouplers and secondary-side CV/CC control circuitry, as well as all control-loop compensation circuitry. This not only reduces component count by as much as 30 percent, but also improves energy efficiency since secondary-side components consume power.

Click here for more information on Power Integrations's LinkSwitch-II family

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