Title :
Smart Charging Technologies for Portable Electronic Devices
Author :
Hild, Sebastian ; Leavey, Sean ; Graf, Christian ; Sorazu, Borja
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Phys. & Astron., Univ. of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Abstract :
In this article we describe our efforts of extending demand-side control concepts to the application in portable electronic devices, such as laptop computers, mobile phones and tablet computers. As these devices feature built-in energy storage (in the form of batteries) and the ability to run complex control routines, they are well-suited for the implementation of smart charging concepts. We developed simple hardware and software based prototypes of smart charging controllers for a laptop computer that steer the charging process depending on the frequency of the electricity grid and in case of the software implementation also based on the battery charge status. If similar techniques are incorporated into millions of devices in UK households, this can contribute significantly to the stability of the electricity grid, help to mitigate the short-term power production fluctuations from renewable energy sources and avoid the high cost of building and maintaining conventional power plants as standby reserve.
Keywords :
battery management systems; load regulation; mobile handsets; portable computers; power supply circuits; secondary cells; smart power grids; battery charge status; built-in energy storage; charging process; complex control routine; demand side control; electricity grid frequency; electricity grid stability; laptop computer; mobile phone; portable electronic device; short term power production fluctuations; smart charging technology; software implementation; tablet computer; Batteries; Electricity; Frequency control; Frequency measurement; Hardware; Microcontrollers; Portable computers; Demand side control; smart charging; smart grids;
Journal_Title :
Smart Grid, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TSG.2013.2281853