Making power adapters smarter and greener

Many current-generation electronic products rely upon device-specific AC-DC power adapters for power. Unfortunately, each product has a unique optimal voltage and amperage level. That has lead to the development of disposable, device-specific power adapters. However, it is possible to make a single, multi-port power adapter that is able to serve power concurrently to various devices that all operate optimally in different power ranges. Digital communication between the device under power (the load) and the power adapter (the source) is essential to dynamically meet the needs of whatever devices are plugged into the smart power hub. Also, once digital communication is in place, a wide range of power monitoring and control applications become possible that were not possible without communication.