Startup company FINxis has developed a power adaptor for notebooks, which is no less than 75 percent small than todays counterparts. Thanks to new circuitry it's possible to realize more compact designs and improve efficiency.

During Consumer Electronics Show 2014 in Las Vegas, which is going to take place next month, FINsix, is going to showcase a power adapter, which is as small as an ordinary power plug but offers up to 65 Watts of power. The new devices should be available by the middle of next year.

One way to shrink power adapters is to increase their frequency, which is precisely what FINsix did. Usually increasing the frequency reduces efficiency, but in collaboration with researchers from MIT, FINsix succeeded in recycling most of the energy that normally goes lost in power adaptors.

Another approach to shrink power electronics, is to use other materials such as gallium nitride, which allows for higher efficiency than silicon semiconductors. The issue with this approach is that these materials are expensive and resources are limited.




Source: Technologyreview