How does EcoSmart work?
ICs with Power Integrations’ EcoSmart technology include extra circuitry on the chip (using no additional-cost external components) that senses when a power supply is in a low-power state (no-load or standby). The “smarts” in EcoSmart then takes one or more steps to improve the efficiency of the power supply in this state: • It lowers the “duty cycle”, that is it limits the supply of power to the load, drawing less current from the electric utility • It “cycle skips”, supplying short bursts of power to the load, waiting for the device to “wake-up,” using electric energy only during each short burst • It lowers the frequency of the power supply, reducing the “switching losses,” thus improving efficiency while in low-power operation The above measures significantly improve the overall power supply efficiency because of two simple facts: power adapters, battery chargers and appliances are always plugged in; and the devices they power are typically in a low power state as much as 22 or mor
