DOI: 10.5176/978-981-08-7240-3_G-07
Authors: Libin George, Torsten Lehmann and Tara Julia Hamilton
Abstract:
The rise in popularity of consumer electronics poses a serious challenge to the environment. The carbon foot print associated with the fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs) used in consumer electronic devices along with the e-wastegenerated with their disposal is significant. Hence a change in design practices needs to be promoted in order to prevent the unsustainable growth in e-waste in the future. This paper argues that reusable and reconfigurable ICs designed for portable consumer electronic products will greatly reduce thee-waste associated with these devices. The paper identifies the power supply IC as one of the key components of portable electronic devices. Therefore, a reconfigurable power supply IC that can work for a range of input and output conditions will enable its reuse in other devices and applications and thus help towards reducing its impact on the environment. The specifications of power supply ICs that can be reused in anumber of consumer electronics products are explored. The requirements of the reconfigurable power supply IC are formulated based on the specifications of popular consumer electronics such as mobile phones. Possible high-efficiency power supply architectures that can be used to deliver the necessary reconfigurability across a number of devices are then presented.
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