Penn State, a leading research university in piezoelectric technologies, announced that battery chargers for laptop computers eventually can be shrunk to half of their current size or even smaller, if the chargers’ magnetic transformers are replaced by Transoners®, the patented piezoelectric transformers developed and marketed by Face Electronics LC (Norfolk, VA).
Kenji Uchino, the head of Penn State’s International Center for Actuators and Transducers, made the announcement after a paper was presented on a Transoner design developed by Face’s Vice President for research and development Alfredo Vázquez Carazo. Uchino notes that, while the Transoner that was evaluated is intended for use with laptops, Transoner-based chargers/adapters could be used with almost any product that needs ac-dc conversion. Such appliances include portable and cellular telephones, printers, CD and DVD players, tape recorders, and other devices that operate on batteries and when plugged into the wall.
