Cambridge-based semiconductor company CamSemi has today announced that it has secured $26m in venture capital funding which it will use to help commercialise its products for enhancing the energy efficiency of electronic devices.
The company, which earlier this month released its first family of products, offers so-called integrated circuit (IC) semiconductors that are used to control power conversion units found in consumer electronic products. It claims that its innovative chips combine with the company's new power conversion unit design to deliver energy efficiency rates of 80 per cent.
"The power conversion units that are needed to produce the lower voltages required to drive or recharge consumer electronic devices are hugely inefficient and turn a lot of the energy going in into waste heat," said Simon McKay at CamSemi. "The established approach is to use low-cost linear [power converter] designs that are just 50 per cent efficiency, while the alternative is to use more expensive SMPS [switch mode power supply] units that are 70 per cent efficient but more expensive."
Consequently, much of the energy drawn by consumer electronic devices is wasted with one study estimating that the standby usage of the UK's 25 million mobile telephone chargers alone consumes enough energy to power 16,000 homes for a year
CamSemi's ICs tackles this problem by enabling an alternative Resonant Discontinuous Forward Converter (RDFC) power unit design that produces more efficient SMPS units at the same price as linear units, McKay said. He added that that this approach also cuts the energy the unit consumes when on standby from the 1W used by linear designs to just 0.1W.
With the technology applicable to around 2.5 billion consumer electronic devices globally CamiSemi is confident it can deliver huge energy savings.
McKay said that latest investment round, which has been led by 3i and existing shareholders Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) and TTP Ventures, sees the Carbon Trust join as a new investor, would be used to develop the market for its new family of ICs and also fund future product development.
He hinted that such product development is likely to focus on energy efficient lighting as well as improved power conversion technologies.
"Our corporate line is to help manufacturers develop cost-effective power conversion and the two major opportunities for that technology is in power units and lighting," he said. "Ninety-five per cent of the power going into conventional bulbs is wasted as heat and while energy efficient bulbs are better, they still need power converters."
The changes include a transformation of draughty homes, plus vast expansion of renewable and nuclear power 18 Mar 2010
Company reveals mobile phone components are already being used in medical equipment, consumer goods and childrens' toys 02 Oct 2009
Engineers' report says building industry will struggle to meet zero-carbon government targets due to lack of skills and training 20 Jan 2010
Scheme envisages car batteries being reused as power storage devices 21 Oct 2009
Office of National Statistics figures show 10 per cent increase in adults going online since 2008 28 Aug 2009
Yorkshire and Humberside selected as CCS Low Carbon Economic Area, as pilot project receives £6.3m grant 18 Mar 2010Bumper day for British car industry as Nissan and Ford make major low-carbon vehicle manufacturing commitments 18 Mar 2010The changes include a transformation of draughty homes, plus vast expansion of renewable and nuclear power 18 Mar 2010
More news
Andrew Williams casts his eye over some of the most popular green driving aids on the market 16 Mar 2010
From hydropower hot spots to record-breaking Texan winds, we run down the top stories from the past week 12 Mar 2010
Few debates cast the UK's business and political community in such an unedifying light as the never-ending row over skills.... 12 Mar 2010 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
