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A tendency to realize high-performance notebook PCs has slowed down recently. Instead, stylish chassis and extended battery life have emerged as crucial factors for attracting users.
To accurately respond to the needs of the time, piezoelectric inverters that employ piezoelectric transformers are indispensable.
For recent stylish notebook PCs, the following features are required: (1) the whole LCD block should be as thin as a plate; (2) the frame should be as slim as possible; and (3) the LCD should be wide in relation to the overall size of the PC. These requirements indicate that the space for necessary parts is limited in such PCs.
While low power consumption CPUs have been realized, LCDs have become wider, with increased resolution and brightness. Accordingly, the LCD uses 30 to 40% of the total power consumed by current notebook PCs.
A key to solving the problem is inverters for the backlights of LCDs. Such inverters must be installed in tight spaces, not emit noise, and be highly efficient without excessive heat.
It is difficult for conventional electromagnetic inverters to satisfy these demanding requirements. The reasons are that the thickness of electromagnetic inverters cannot be reduced because isolation voltage has to be guaranteed, Also, their efficiency cannot easily be improved upon because of various losses. |
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On the other hand, piezoelectric inverters, which function by converting electricity into vibration and then converting the vibration into electricity again, are downsized, thin, highly efficient, and emit little noise. Furthermore, they have excellent features such as low heat emission and nonflammability. Therefore, they are devices which are suitable for cutting-edge LCDs.
The piezoelectric inverters are especially useful for notebook PCs because of their compact size and high efficiency. They can be installed in thin or narrow spaces and their high efficiency can extend battery life by more than 10 minutes compared with electromagnetic inverters.
Their excellent characteristics such as small sizes, high efficiency, and low heat as well as low noise emissions are also useful for large LCD televisions.
Compared with electromagnetic inverters, piezoelectric inverters are especially advantageous in regards to the safe usage of large LCD televisions that require high voltage. |
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NEC TOKIN is now developing piezoelectric inverters which contain transformers with 30 watts or more.
Large LCD televisions with a display of 30 inches or more employ 10 to 20 or more backlights, each one of which requires an inverter. On the other hand, a transformer with 30 watts or more can turn on four backlights for a 30-inch or larger display. Thus, piezoelectric inverters contribute to a simpler circuit, reduce the number of parts and improve efficiency.
NEC TOKIN provides optimum devices whose materials have carefully been selected, by utilizing high technical capabilities applied to all production stages--from ceramic materials to elements, devices, and units--of piezoelectric devices. NEC TOKIN has capabilities and systems for quickly responding to the accelerated development speed of products by using accumulated technologies and processing materials so that the loss and heat emissions of the piezoelectric devices are suppressed.
The piezoelectric inverters of NEC TOKIN will widely be used behind the scenes to support future LCDs. |
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