Wireless power has become a hot topic as wireless charging of mobile devices is get getting some popularity. Wireless charging isn’t something new; the technology exists since 1981 and Nikola Tesla has made first wireless power experiments over 100 years ago. Wireless charging for Qi technology is becoming the industry standard on smartphones (pushed by Wireless Power Consortium) as Nokia, HTC and some other companies use that. There is a competing AW4P wireless charging standard pushed by Samsung ja Qualcomm. And there is more standards coming. Power Matters Alliance is heavily pushing their own wireless charging standard. It seems there is going to be fight on wireless charging in near future. It seems that right now we’re in the midst of a battle between two standards for wireless charging – Qi from the Wireless Power Consortium and Power 2.0 from the Power Matters Alliance. It seems that a common Wireless Power Standard Years Off as Battle Heats Up.
As obviously useful as wireless charging is, it suffers from a Tower of Babel problem with incompatible standards and competing interests keeping it from truly going mainstream. Wireless charging continues to be a niche category until there’s a common standard. Heavyweights are backing the idea of wireless charging capabilities embedded in phones, and public charging stations are beginning to pop up. Differing standards, however, still make for a rocky adoption. Realistically there probably isn’t room for two or more standards, which do essentially the same to end user but are incompatible, so expect some technologies to disappear in the near future. Charging portable devices without needing to carry a power adapter sounds handy when we can agree on one standard. “Wireless charging continues to be a niche category until there’s a common standard,” said Daniel Hays, a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. “The hassle factor is still high.”
Qi seems to be at the moment standard that gets most attention. The news that Nokia to join Qi party with wireless-charging Lumia 920 have given lots of publicity to it. Even if the Lumia isn’t a big seller, the publicity and visibility it will provide for Qi should be enough to make everyone forget there was ever an alternative, if indeed there ever was. Also some HTC phones and Nexus 4 phone use this standard. Toyota launches the world’s first wireless charging of mobile phones in the car. Toyota’s car will get wireless mobile phone charger using Qi standard.
Qi has been here for some years. Qi has been around for a while, gaining the name and logo back in 2009. The Qi standard came out of water filtration units, which needed wireless power, and has been widely endorsed but devices are still quite rare. Under the Qi specification, “low power” for inductive transfer means a draw of 0 to 5 W, and that’s where mobile device charging solutions most probably go. The system used inductive coupling between two planar coils to transfer power from the power transmitter to the power receiver. The distance between the two coils is typically 5 mm, but can be expanded to 40mm.
The Qi system uses a digital control loop where the power receiver communicates with the power transmitter and requests more or less power via backscatter modulation. Besides low-power specification up to 5 watts, there is also a medium-power specification will deliver up to 120 watts. The frequency used for Qi chargers is located between about 110 and 205 kHz for the low power Qi chargers up to 5 watts and 80-300 kHz for the medium power Qi chargers.
Qi
Method: inductive coupling between two planar coils
Frequency: 110-205 kHz (80-300 KHz)
Communication: backscatter modulation
WiPower was a technology start-up company that used the principles of inductive coupling to develop a near-field wireless energy transfer system. Qualcomm bought WiPower in 2010 and started quietly negotiating with manufacturers to get the technology embedded in their kit. Qualcomm argues that the additional range of WiPower (which can charge devices up to 45mm away) allows new possibilities. WiPower system is based on modified coreless inductive technology and dynamically adjusts power supplied by the transmitter to power demanded by the receiver without the need for control systems or communication. WiPower chargers are claimed to operate at about 60-75 percent efficiency.
WiPower
Method: inductive coupling
Communication: no need for specific communication
Samsung and Qualcomm’s Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) promises more flexibility in wireless charging. Instead of induction, this standard will use loosely-coupled (LC) wireless power transfer (a series resonance-tuned pair of magnetically-coupled coils) to transmit power. This construction allows that the transmitter and receiver don’t have to be in direct contact, which gives more flexibility to industrial designers. This designs will support simultaneous charging of multiple devices with different power requirements. A4WP specification takes advantage of Bluetooth 4.0. The biggest downside in this design is that currently there are no products with this technology are yet on the market.
A4WP
Method: series resonance-tuned pair of magnetically-coupled coils (loosely coupled)
Frequency: 6.78 MHz
Communications: Bluetooth 4.0
The Power Matters Alliance (PMA) is working on an open standard for wireless charging. A group of companies back up this initiative (including Google, AT&T, ZTE, Starbucks, ,McDonalds, PowerKiss). PMA uses inductive charging method used in Duracell’s Powermat product. It requires the transmitter and receiver be close together, placing the mobile device on the charging pad.
This is quite new alliance but it seems to get lots of backers: over the last few months, the PMA has seen a tenfold increase in membership. One very big thing is that AT&T is seeking from its handset vendors a commitment to one standard of wireless charging.
The PMA is working to advance the widespread acceptance of the wireless power paradigm in multiple sectors. PMA is intent on leading and organizing the Power 2.0 agenda to commercial realization, while working under the umbrella of the most trusted name in standards: the IEEE. Powermat is capable of delivering 5-to-50 watts of power. Powermat allows a built-in check for alignment via light and voice signals based on RFiD Handshake feature. When you place a Powermat-enabled device on one of its mats, the two exchange a “handshake” using RFID: The mat identifies the device, determines how much power it needs and transfers energy to it. Powermat operates at 277-357 kHz frequency. Once a device is fully charged, Powermat stops the electricity from flowing. But as much momentum as the PMA has achieved, it is far from clear whether it will be that bandwagon.
Power Matters Alliance (PMA)
Method: inductive charging
Frequency: 277-357 kHz
Communication: RFID
As obviously useful as wireless charging is, it suffers from a Tower of Babel problem with incompatible standards and competing interests keeping it from truly going mainstream. There are also attempts to support several standards on one product. Samsung Galaxy SIII wireless power supports both Qualcomm’s WiPower and Wireless Power Consortium Qi. The Samsung Galaxy S4 will support both PMA and Qi standards. NXP has developed a charging station, which allows you to use both the general mobile phone charging standards (as well as one rare third standard).
The technologies I mentioned are not the only ones trying to push to the market in the near future. Apple is trying to patent wireless charging, claiming its magnetic resonance tech is new and that it can do it better than anyone else. Digitoday writes that Finnish research organization VTT is planning to combine wireless power and NFC technologies. The reasearchers believe that in the future NFC devices could be made to work as way to get power into device and send power to other device cheaply. Technology is not ready yet, because today’s NFC antenna circuits are not optimized for power transfer and there is no standard that covers this kind of use yet. NFC operates within the globally available and unlicensed radio frequency ISM band of 13.56 MHz.
Wireless Power: Convenient, But Its Shortcomings Are Somewhat Sour article tells that close-proximity inductive coupling is commonly estimated to deliver 50 to 70% efficiency. That’s considerably worse efficiency that what you get with a well designed wired charger. Intel increases consumer-product power consumption 50% blog post says that a system that is 50% efficient on top of the ac-dc conversion, and pumps RF energy all over the place is far from ideal in world where some other parties try to conserve every single watt. In a world with 15 billion chargers, energy efficiency is a big deal. Based in that is makes me a little bit hard to believe the Power Matter Alliance claims that wireless charging could save a lots of power in the future. How Wireless Charging Will Keep Toxic Waste Out of Landfills article tries to describe how wireless power could be more eco-friendly, but it is hard to believe all those claims without good data. I can believe that wireless chargers can have better energy efficiency than some old chargers supplied with consumer devices, but I given the limitations wireless charging it is very hard to believe that wireless charger could ever be more efficient than well designed wired charger. But wireless charger could be well “good enough” to be acceptable.
422 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Harvesting Energy From Humidity
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/07/15/2019212/harvesting-energy-from-humidity
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wireless charger uses ultrasound to power your phone from across the room
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/07/ubeam-wireless-charger-ultrasound/?ncid=rss_semi
Today, the company’s finally ready for a big move forward — uBeam co-founder Meredith Perry just announced that the team has created a fully functional prototype, one that will be used as a model for upcoming consumer versions. So, what makes uBeam so “unusual” anyway? Unlike other wireless charging standards that require you to place gadgets in contact with mats, uBeam’s ultrasound-based technology allow you to move freely while charging.
Here’s how it works: a thin charging station takes electricity and converts it into sounds, which are then transmitted over ultrasound. A receiver stuck to a phone or any other device then catches those sound waves and converts them back into energy. It does have limitations
Tomi Engdahl says:
Temporary tattoos turn sweat to power in biobattery
http://www.cnet.com/news/temporary-tattoos-turn-sweat-to-power-in-biobattery/
Electrical currents generated from sweat could someday be a way to charge your phone while burning calories.
One day soon, the juice that powers your phone or other portable devices could pour forth from your pores. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have created a biosensor in the form of a temporary tattoo that uses sweat to monitor exercise progress and produces a weak electrical current in the process.
The sensor detects and reacts with lactate in sweat, which is produced by the body through a process called glycolysis during exercise.
Not wanting to lose those sweet sweat electrons, the research team developed a biobattery that could connect to the sweat sensor and be worn during a workout. Using the current design, which has electrodes only 2 by 3 millimeters in size, exercising volunteers were only able to generate about 4 microwatts, less than half of what would be required to power a watch.
Mark Etting says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Qi-Compliant Wireless Charging Integrated Circuit
http://www.eeweb.com/company-news/mouser/qi-compliant-wireless-charging-integrated-circuit/
The Panasonic Wireless Charging ICs, available from Mouser Electronics, feature low power consumption and low heat dissipation in compliance with the Qi charging standard. As an expansion to Panasonic’s already popular Wireless Charging Control IC line, the new NN32251A Transmitter IC includes both a microcontroller and an analog controller in one package, reducing external components and saving board space. When used together, the NN32251A transmitter and AN32258A-PR receiver chips achieve an energy conversion efficiency of over 70% as a Qi compliant charger.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Watch Misnomer: Wireless Charging
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1323836&
The Apple Watch is pretty cool, guys. Forget the variety of form factors, enhanced fitness monitor capabilities, customizable bands, digital crown control, and integrated Apple Pay. It has wireless charging. Kind of.
Following weeks of speculation, I thought Apple would surely announce phones or a wearable capable of magnetic resonance charging — my bet for the winner among the coil-based charging methods — and I was sorely disappointed.
Not only were the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus completely devoid of wireless charging, but Apple chose the less mobile close-coupled magnetic inductive charger for its watch. Why Apple, why?
But Apple’s use of wireless charging is a red herring — the charging mechanism for the Apple Watch isn’t wireless at all. Though the watch has no exposed contacts or visible alignment, Apple’s Magsafe technology (the same thing that snaps a charger on to your Macbook) connects the coils inside the watch just so.
It’s a simple design that doesn’t require much thought, especially for veteran Apple users.
Still, it’s likely that Apple’s version of wireless charging will become the de facto example for consumers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel’s wireless charging bowl to power up this year
http://www.gizmag.com/intel-wireless-charging-bowl-2014/33886/
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich told the crowd during his closing keynote at MakerCon in New York on Thursday that the wireless charging bowl he showed off at CES 2014 would be hitting the market by the end of the year.
Krzanich said that the simple bowl, which seemed like another of the many wacky innovations seen at CES that never make it to market, was the item that drew the largest reaction from the conference.
He also shared the smart charging bowl’s less than glamorous journey from concept to production, joking that a team simply bought a cheap bowl at Walmart that they then wired up. When it worked surprisingly well, they bought a slightly better bowl from Target and tried again. Eventually a custom bowl was designed that will go on sale soon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s New with Wireless Charging?
http://www.intelfreepress.com/news/whats-new-wireless-charging/8317
Inductive charging is hardly new, but the technology and the promise are advancing.
Nikola Tesla pioneered some of the earliest attempts at wireless power transmission before the turn of the 20th century. In the late 1890s, he’d succeeded at wirelessly lighting lamps. Though Tesla never became a household name associated with wireless power, the inductive charging techniques he invented would see a renaissance some five decades after his death in 1943.
Innovation is often born in unlikely places and when it comes to wireless charging. The Braun Company was perhaps well ahead of the curve. Since the early ‘90s, its rechargeable toothbrushes have utilized induction as a wireless (and waterproof) charging solution.
Other early iterations of wireless charging include transcutaneous energy transfer systems found in surgically implanted devices, such as artificial hearts.
Arguably, the last major breakthrough in wireless charging occurred in 2006 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a team led by Marin Soljačić discovered a method for transferring power between coils separated by a few meters. The MIT researchers found that the range could be extended even further through magnetic resonance.
Today, resonance-based wireless charging is fundamentally grounded in the same principles that Tesla pioneered more than a century ago
Intel and others have been talking about wireless charging for years.
Intel has said that it is working on a completely wire-free laptop by 2016 using WiGig to transfer video and graphics wirelessly, and with wireless charging
The next few years will be interesting to watch if the industry can settle on a common standard. The Rezence standard, backed by the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) appears to be gaining traction according to A4WP’s marketing chair
That doesn’t mean there aren’t interesting implementations in the works based on other standards such as Qi, backed by the Wireless Power Consortium.
Intel and WiTriCity have recently teamed up on a licensing agreement that will allow Intel to integrate WiTricity’s wireless charging technology into its chips. Both companies support the Rezence standard.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 5 things to know about wireless power design
http://edn.com/design/wireless-networking/4435161/Top-5-things-to-know-about-wireless-power-design?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20140929&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20140929&elq=838e5ebf72da48e7ae4124928ffbe132&elqCampaignId=19367
When designing a wireless power system, the key considerations that impact the design are typically user experience, efficiency, power levels, standards, component selection/availability and cost. A well-designed system can provide a variety of benefits from improved features (e.g. a smartphone that no longer needs to be plugged in) to enabling new technologies
In the case where all three blocks of the wireless power system operate at their highest estimated efficiency (i.e., 95%, 90% and 95%), the overall system efficiency would be approximately 82%. In this case, a 5W device would only require approximately 6W from the transmitter and only 1W would be lost to inefficiencies.
#1: User Experience
#2: Efficiency
#3: Power Levels
#4: Standards & Regulatory
#5: Component Selection
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nikola Tesla and Wireless Power future
http://edn.com/design/power-management/4435266/Nikola-Tesla-and-Wireless-Power-future
Wireless power transfer, especially for battery charging, is a growing and dynamic market trend in portable electronics and also Electric Vehicles in the near future. Nikola Tesla first ushered in the concept and demonstrated his theory in the late 1800s. Ultimately large batteries may not be needed to keep your smart phone or tablet or the Internet of Things (IoT) running.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Haier Plans To Embed Area Wireless Chargers In Home Appliances
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/14/10/27/1531222/haier-plans-to-embed-area-wireless-chargers-in-home-appliances
Haier has signed a development agreement with Energous, a maker of the WattUp wireless charging router. Haier plans incorporate the technology in appliances allowing enabled mobile devices and wearables to take a charge at up 15 feet away. The white goods maker is expected to come out with the enabled appliances in the next 14 months or so. The WattUp router uses radio frequency (RF) transmissions to send up to 4 watts of power in a 15-ft. radius.
Your next fridge could charge all your mobile devices
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2838591/your-next-fridge-could-someday-charge-all-your-mobile-devices.html
Haier, the world’s largest home appliance maker, plans to embed area wireless chargers
Your next refrigerator or television may also double as a wireless charger for your mobile devices and wearables.
Home appliance maker Haier announced today that it has signed a joint development agreement with Energous, creator of the WattUp wireless router that sends power in a 15-ft. radius using radio frequency transmissions.
China-based Haier, a $180 billion company, dominates the market in shipped white goods, which include major appliances such as freezers, refrigerators and washing machines, according to research firm Euromonitor. Haier also produces thousands of other products, from televisions and computers to cellphones and robots, all of which could potentially house wireless charging technology.
Energous CEO Stephen Rizzone said the deal with Haier completes a wire-free charging ecosystem for his company.
In order for WattUp routers to work, receiver technology has to be enabled in the mobile devices that would take on an electrical charge.
Because of the longer development cycle, Holmes said he doesn’t expect smartphone makers to embed the technology in products for at least 12 to 18 months. But Holmes does expect wearable device makers to embed the receivers in products in the next year and toy makers to embed it over the next 24 months.
nergous’ WattUp wireless routers use radio frequency (RF) transmissions to send up to 4 watts of power in a 15-ft. radius. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company raised nearly $25 million when it went public earlier this year.
Within 5 feet of a WattUp wireless router, a mobile device can be charged at the same rate as if it were plugged into a wall socket, Holmes added.
A single WattUp transmitter can charge up to 24 devices. The maximum amount of power — 4 watts — can only be delivered to four devices simultaneously. So as more enabled and “authorized” devices enter a room, the charge to each device is reduced.
The Bluetooth wireless communication specification is used between WattUp transmitters and receivers.
Nick Spencer, a senior director at ABI Research, said the primary concern government regulators will likely have with wireless charging technology is that it could potentially waste electricity. On average, 40% of the electricity sent from a utility’s grid into a home is wasted as it moves through various transformers. That loss is greater with wireless charging systems.
To date, however, Haier is the largest of appliance makers to move toward embedding the wireless charging technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ex-BlackBerry chief joins Powermat as CEO
http://www.cnet.com/news/former-blackberry-chief-joins-powermat-as-ceo/
Powermat Technologies, which champions wireless charging technology in mobile devices, tapped former BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins to run the company.
Thorsten Heins, who departed BlackBerry in late 2013, will now lead a wireless-charging company on the cusp of its global expansion.
Powermat, a privately owned Israeli company founded in 2006, sells wireless charging pads through the Duracell Powermat brand and sells charging spots to restaurants and cafes. Powermat also developed the inductive charging technology behind those products.
The company has been trying to beat out rival wireless-charging standard Qi, which was created by the Wireless Power Consortium. In a big step toward consolidation of wireless-charging technologies, two of the three major wireless charging groups, the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) and the the Powermat-backed Power Matters Alliance (PMA), signed an agreement in February to ensure that their two standards will work together.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10-W wireless power solution promises faster, cooler charging
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4437708/10-W-wireless-power-solution-promises-faster–cooler-charging?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20141124&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20141124&elq=a5c94513ba014b86a7f03de1c6b610e3&elqCampaignId=20336
TI’s receiver and transmitter system efficiently charges one- and two-cell battery-powered applications, and supports any Qi-compatible 5-W wireless charging system.
Claimed as the first fully integrated 10-W wireless charging receiver and corresponding transmitter, the bq51025 and bq500215 enable waterproof and dustproof portable designs and provide a faster, cooler charge to one- and two-cell (1S and 2S) Li-Ion batteries. The charging solution is also compatible with any 5-W Qi-compliant product in the market – allowing consumers the flexibility to charge in more places.
The bq51025 receiver supports a programmable output voltage of 4.5 to 10 V and achieves up to 84% charging efficiency at 10-W when paired with TI’s bq500215 wireless power transmitter, significantly improving thermal performance. The fully-contained wireless power receiver solution measures 3.60 by 2.89 mm, and can be designed into many portable industrial designs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wireless Power standards are like Highlanders: There can be only ONE
Well get ON with it then, we’re waiting
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/27/wireless_power_why_are_we_waiting/
It has been more than 100 years since the first wireless power systems were demonstrated and the principles are about as well-known as any in the technology field.
While wireless networking has been the norm for over a decade, wireless power is still very much in its infancy and is years away from mass adoption.
Last week, the great and the good in the wireless world got together in Berkeley, California, for this year’s Wireless Power Summit to map out the way forward. Rival camps in the wireless power world rubbed shoulders and shook hands, the latest charger designs and ideas were discussed
There are three organizations competing to be the wireless power standard of the future: The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), and the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) – although the last-mentioned two groups agreed to work together on a common standard back in February.
The WPC has Microsoft, Motorola, Philips, Qualcomm, and others on its side. Meanwhile, A4WP has Broadcom, Intel, Samsung, and so on. There’s some crossover – Samsung and Qualcomm are members of both sides, for example – but there is a sense of battle lines being drawn.
The competing groups each use slightly different power transmission methods, but they are based around either induction charging or magnetic resonance power supplies. The two techniques have different strengths and weaknesses but both are perfectly valid forms for wireless charging.
Magnetic induction power, used by the WPC and PMA, requires the charging pad and the device to be near each other, typically within 4cm. The magnetic resonance system used by A4WP can also supply juice to things up to about 5cm away.
It’s possible to put the equipment for both types of charging in a single power supply unit and in the gadgets being charged – the mechanics are certainly there. But doing so requires all the players to agree a common power and communication specification and, frankly, you might as well try herding cats as expect that to work in today’s technology environment.
“Only one ecosystem can survive,” Menno Treffers, chairman of the Wireless Power Consortium, told The Register.
“There is a possible exception to that if there is no big cost disadvantage then a dual mode can be used. But if there is a cost penalty then that only works in the short term.”
The most commonly used standard in consumer electronics is the WPC’s Qi (pronounced chee) standard, which uses inductive power.
The tech is designed to use a frequency of 110 to 205kHz for low-power devices (up to 5W), and 80 to 300kHz for beefier gear (up to 120W, eventually).
A4WP’s design can theoretically deliver up to 50W, and is seen as a possible contender for powering laptops and tablets, particularly considering its supporters, and that it also has a working group focusing on wearables. It uses a frequency of 6.78MHz to deliver power over the air, and exchanges control information in a 2.4GHz Bluetooth Smart radio band.
The PMA is also an induction-based design
Tomi Engdahl says:
Christmas Lights And Ships In A Bottle
http://hackaday.com/2014/12/01/christmas-lights-and-ships-in-a-bottle/
We don’t know if it’s been invented, but here’s a Kickstarter campaign that’s selling that same idea. It’s called Aura, and it’s exactly what it says on the tin: wireless Christmas lights, controllable with a smartphone. If it works, it’s a brilliant idea.
Here’s the basic technical breakdown for Aura. A bunch of PCBs with large coils and LEDs (and little else) are somehow stuffed into glass ball ornaments. These ornaments are powered via RF supplied by a coil that snaps around the tree and plugs into the wall. The coil is able to power the lights up to about five feet away.
A coil will be able to power up to about 100 lights. The smartphone ‘scheduling’ is done directly at the coil turning all the lights on or off,
AURA: The first ever, wirelessly powered Christmas lights
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1034423012/aura-the-first-ever-wirelessly-powered-christmas-l
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Tomi Engdahl says:
The Refrigerator as Wireless Charger
http://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/consumer-electronics/gadgets/the-refrigerator-as-wireless-charger
Sometime next year, when you see your teen standing in front of the open refrigerator staring inside for far longer than seems to make sense, he might have an excuse: he could be charging his phone and wearables.
It’s tough to keep wearables charged, because the whole point of wearable devices is to wear them 24/7, not stick them in chargers.
Obvious answer: wireless charging. Many companies have been working on this; most use inductive charging, that depends on devices being within an electromagnetic field, sitting on a charging pad, or at least on a tabletop with a pad beneath it.
Energous is taking a different approach; its technology harvests energy from RF signals. Energous is not the only company to work on this technology (others include Israeli startup Humavox and Pittsburgh company Powercast), though it is one of the better funded, having raised $24 million in a public offering earlier this year.
Energous has developed the WattUp “wire-free energy router”; it can send up to 4 watts of power out in a 3.7-meter radius to specially equipped devices. Within 1.5 meters, the company says, batteries will charge at the same rate as if they were directly plugged into chargers, power drops off to 1 watt at 3 to 4.5 meters. At those levels, it can charge four devices simultaneously; if more devices come within range, power levels to each device drop off.
Energous’s current products are 0.3 by 0.3 meter cubes. The company has had to trade off bulkiness with efficiency; making them bigger would allow them to include more antennas and charge more devices faster.
Look for Haier’s higher end refrigerators to include Energous’ technology soon.
I’ll be looking for some announcements at CES in January.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Freescale Charges 15W Wirelessly
Chips support two inductive specs
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324878&
Freescale is turning up the power on wireless charging with a new set of receivers and transmitters targeting larger phablets, tablets, and handheld medical equipment. The chips are the first to handle up to 15W using the Qi technology defined by the Wireless Power Consortium.
“Today’s mobile products offer a broader range of features, functionality and form factors than ever before, requiring developers of wireless charging systems to accommodate larger batteries and enable faster recharge speeds,” Denis Cabrol, Freescale’s MCU group director of global marketing and business development, said in a release.
Freescale’s WCT1012/WCT1111 transmitter chips — offered in standard and premium versions — and its WPR1516 receiver chip are geared for mobile devices with bigger batteries. They enable a recharge that’s up to three times faster than 5W predecessors, said Freescale’s Randy Ryder.
The Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab have approximately 12W power ratings, which have yet to be addressed by existing wireless charging devices. The 15W spec will also enable mobile phones that have fast charging capabilities, a capability expected to grow rapidly in 2015, according to IHS
The Freescale chips support two standards based on magnetic induction using closely coupled coils — Qi and a separate spec from the Power Matters Association. While Ryder believes the bridge products similar to those from MediaTek will become commonplace, Freescale’s devices don’t support the resonant standard of the Alliance for Wireless Power that uses loosely coupled coils.
“Inductive charging produced a pretty healthy ecosystem. We’re seeing the adoption rate increase because cost is coming down and technology has improved a lot in terms of efficiency and value,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
8 Places Wireless Charging Is Hitting Mainstream
http://www.ebnonline.com/author.asp?section_id=3219&doc_id=275945&
Wireless charging may well be the most exciting development that has come down the pike in recent memory. The ability to charge a favorite electronic device without pesky cords is a dream come true. Now, real products and applications for wireless charging are showing up in the real world.
This market is exploding. The global wireless charging market is predicted to reach $7.161 billion in 2017, growing from $456.86 million in 2011 at a growth rate of 57.46% annually, according to a report released last month by RnRMarketResearch.com.
Tomi Engdahl says:
These shoes were made for CHARGING: Footwear generates enough power to recharge a phone as you walk
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2889932/These-shoes-CHARGING-Footwear-generates-power-recharge-phone-walk.html
Ex-students of Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, invented insole
Insoles have a mechanical system inside them, which spins a generator
Generator allows power to be stored in a battery pack stored outside shoe
Insoles provide two-and-a-half hours of phone charge from a one hour walk
‘During the heel strike the kinetic energy of the foot is transferred into the mechanical system, which uses it to spin a micro-generator.’
This generator allows power to be built up in an external battery pack connected by a cable, called a PowerPac, tied onto the laces so it sits on top of a shoe.
It contains a USB port, allowing a variety of items to charge off it, including smartphones.
Mr Davitian said: ‘The PowerPac is attached to the shoelaces, as you walk you are charging the PowerPac.
‘When you wish to charge your phone, you simply detach the PowerPac from your shoelaces and plug into the available USB port.’
While the insole is still in the design phase, the company intends on launching it ‘as soon as possible’
The prototypes delivered an average of 400 milliwatts
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wireless Charging Standards Groups Agree To Merge
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/01/07/0033255/wireless-charging-standards-groups-agree-to-merge
the Alliance for Wireless Power and the Power Matters Alliance announced a plan to merge.
Two standards groups backing wireless charging plan to merge
http://www.itworld.com/article/2865614/two-standards-groups-backing-wireless-charging-plan-to-merge.html
Two of three groups aiming to establish a standard for wireless charging of mobile devices have agreed to merge with an eye to quicker adoption and economies of scale for the technology.
nterest in wireless charging technology has seen a surge as device makers try to make it easier for customers to recharge devices, without having to carry around power cables.
The groups are the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), backed by over 140 companies including Intel and Samsung Electronics, and the Power Matters Alliance, a 70-member group that has AT&T and Starbucks on its board.
They have agreed to merge their two organizations by mid-2015 and set up an as yet unnamed organization to “accelerate the availability and deployment of wireless charging technology on a global scale,” according to a statement Monday.
The two organizations agreed in February to make their wireless power standards interoperable globally.
The merged groups are expected to aim to offer users a choice of both technologies. “The ‘standards war’ narrative presents a false choice,” said Kamil Grajski, Board chair and president of A4WP. ”Consider that the typical mass-market smartphone contains a multiplicity of radio technologies (Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi, 3G, LTE) each built around a vibrant ecosystem, whereas other devices are single-mode (Bluetooth headset).”
“The A4WP PMA merger is in the same spirit: enable the market to apply technologies to their best use cases,” Grajski added.
The groups had already proposed in February that A4WP would adopt the PMA inductive specification as a supported option for multi-mode inductive, magnetic resonance implementations, while PMA agreed to adopt the A4WP Rezence specification as the PMA magnetic resonance charging specification for both transmitters and receivers in both single and multi-mode configurations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This router can power your devices wirelessly from 15 feet away
http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/05/energous-wattup-wireless-charging-demo/
Energous’ system is called WattUp, and it works using a mix of RF, Bluetooth and a lot of patent-pending technology. The transmitter is where most of the magic happens. It communicates with and locates compatible devices using low-energy Bluetooth. Once they’ve established contact with a device, they send out focused RF signals on the same bands as WiFi that are then absorbed and converted into DC power by a tiny chip embedded in the device. These transmitters can be built into household appliances, TVs, speakers and standalone “energy routers.”
This conversion, known as “rectification,” is not a new idea, but Energous’ application of it is. Its latest generation of chips are around 70 percent efficient — a typical wireless charging mat clocks in at around 90 percent — and can provide enough power to easily charge both a phone and wearable from a single bedside transmitter.
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CES Chips Charge Wirelessly
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325243&
Chips designers showed support for multiple wireless charging standards at the International CES this year, including a new way of using the technology on electric cars.
“The combined global market for wireless power receivers and transmitters is expected to rise to 1.7 billion unit shipments in 2023, up from about 25 million in 2013,” Ryan Sanderson, associate director of power supply & storage components at IHS Technology, said in a release.
There are several competing wireless charging standards on the market, which is currently dominated by the Wireless Power Consortium’s (WPC) Qi, a charging technique based on the closely-coupled coils of magnetic induction.
This trend toward convergence was echoed in several demonstrations from leading chip companies. Qualcomm showed off a wirelessly charged car, while MediaTek and Broadcom demoed multi-standard cell phone chargers.
MediaTek showed a multimode wireless charger at CES 2014. . It also displayed a new board and coil design at the event. The MT3188 now has a coil system to support both resonant and inductive coil systems. Larger, wider-spaced coils encircle a smaller, closely-coupled coil set for inductive charging phones.
A demonstration was able to charge two cell phones at once.
Broadcom created a lighting circuit with its BCM59350 receiver chip that could be turned on by PMA (300 kHz), A4WP (6.78 MHz), and Qi (200 kHz) standards.
Qualcomm rolled out a demo of wirelessly charging a 2014 Honda Accord electric vehicle.
Dr. Anthony Thompson, vice president of business development and marketing for Qualcomm Halo, said there is no difference between inductive and resonant charging methods at the vehicle level.
Electricity will transfer if the car is parked within 15 cm of the pad.
Qualcomm provides 3.3 Kw, 6.6 Kw, and 20 Kw prototypes to power the doormat-sized ground charging pad.
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Microsoft researchers use light beams to charge smartphones
Build indoor solar charger prototype for smartphones
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/26/nbn_co_cuts_backhaul_charges_at_last/
Smartphones are amazing but their battery life is frequently absurd. It’s not uncommon for people to charge their smartphones once, twice or even more in the course of a single day. Enter a team from Microsoft Research that wants to stop you from worrying about plugging in your phone.
Yunxin Liu, Zhen Qin and Chunshui Zhao from Microsoft Research’s Beijing campus have developed a new system they dub AutoCharge: A prototype automatic charging system for smartphones.
But not only is it designed to charge smartphones automatically, it does so wirelessly.
The current crop of wireless charging solutions for smartphones typically require special phone cases and ‘charging pads’, and work using electromagnetic induction. Power is transmitted only over a few centimetres.
The Microsoft Research team instead envisage using solar power techniques to charge smartphones.
Instead of relying on the sun, the team built a prototype charger that can be mounted on a ceiling and automatically locate a smartphone lying on a table, then charge it using a directed beam of light.
The device then enters charging mode and turns on its light. The prototype used an UltraFire CREE XM-L T6 Focusing LED Flashlight.
In addition the charger can recognise when an object moves between it and the phone, and automatically shut down the light beam within 50 milliseconds.
Using a light beam to charge a smartphone could be as quick as many wired chargers, the researchers found, depending on the size of the PV panel.
A big problem with implementing the system is that smartphones do not currently come with PV panels attached. (For the prototype, a panel was hooked up to a smartphone, not integrated.)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft wants LAMP for wireless mobe charger
Kinect to spot phones so lights can be focussed on solar mobes
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/20/microsoft_wants_lamp_for_wireless_mobe_charger/
Microsoft Research has put forward the idea of charing mobile phones with a beam of light.
Explained in a paper titled AutoCharge: Automatically Charge Smartphones Using a Light Beam (PDF), the idea is to use a Kinect motion sensor to spot a phone, then focus a lamp on it to bathe phones in light and charge them wirelessly.
Authors Yunxin Liu, Zhen Qin and Chunshui Zha, all of Microsoft Research China, reckon solar charging is a better bet indoors than out because within walls it’s easier to control the quality of available light. If one could make a light source emit useful bandwidths for charging, and automatically direct the light source to a thirsty mobile device, the trio reckon, the simple and natural act of leaving a phone on a desk would see its battery replenished.
Mobe-makers would need to use transparent photovoltaic panels to make this feasible, the paper says, noting that such devices are already on sale and suggesting it’s a good idea for future phones to feature such materials.
+Comment Perhaps a nicer way to get this going is with a lamp – or light bulb – that beams out both visible and invisible light. Such a device could be rather nicer to use than the bowl-or-pad-shaped induction chargers your correspondent has beheld.
AutoCharge: Automatically Charge Smartphones Using a Light Beam
http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/238337/AutoCharge-TR.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Last year, the wireless charging circuits were still sold at a very modest about 15 million dollars. This year the market will grow to 480 million dollars. 3000 percent increase is based on the IHS Research Institute due to Apple iWatch.
IHS predicts that wireless charging circuits sold a billion dollars a year by 2018.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2299:applen-kello-rajayttaa-langattoman-lataamisen&catid=13&Itemid=101
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GaN Pumps Power Revolution
Gallium nitride pioneer keynotes DesignCon
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325477&
Those who say don’t bet against mainstream silicon CMOS technology haven’t heard what’s going on in gallium nitride.
An emerging class of GaN power chips is finally knocking down the final cost barriers to their adoption. The chips will enable a wide range of applications form wireless charging to autonomous vehicles and more efficient cellular communications, said a DesignCon keynoter here.
The fast switch EPC gets on its proprietary GaN process allows significantly higher efficiency than today’s silicon parts.
EPC plans to roll out higher power RF FETs and ICs up to 6 GHz as well as a fifth generation of its core power conversion chips
The GaN chips will be key enablers of the Rezence version of wireless charging. The devices help systems stay tuned to the resonance needed for wireless charging. “You didn’t see this until 2015 because it was hard,” said Lidow citing forecasts of a $10 billion wireless charging market by 2018.
GaN chips will enable the Rezence approach to letting loosely coupled devices charge wirelessly, Lidow said, outlining the approach
http://www.rezence.com/
The A4WP announced the official launch of its global Rezence™ certification program and that a number of companies have been granted certification of product submissions.
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Will Energy-Harvesting 3D Printed Trees Charge Your Smartphone?
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325718&
Scientists at the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) have developed a prototype of a 3D printed tree that harvests solar energy using organic solar cells and kinetic energy from vibrations in its surrounding environment.
The artificial energy-harvesting trees, which can be infinitely replicated, work indoors or outdoors by storing the energy they harvest and turn it into electricity to power small devices such as mobile phones, humidifiers, thermometers and LED light bulbs.
The ‘leaves’ of the energy-harvesting tree are flexible, patterned organic solar panels made using a mass production technique developed by VTT on a printing process.
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Home> Power-management Design Center > How To Article
Wireless power transfer from the antenna side of the design
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4438658/Wireless-power-transfer-from-the-antenna-side-of-the-design?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_powermanagement_20150217&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_powermanagement_20150217&elq=1097bb4fd39e4c40bef6e032def3475d&elqCampaignId=21665&
We all hear about the wireless power transmitter/receiver ICs that Texas Instruments, Linear Technology, IDT, Toshiba and countless others have developed for this rapidly growing market. An often overlooked, but nonetheless, key component of the solution are the transmit/receive antenna coils. Designers can design their own coils, but there are two very prominent and most capable companies that expertly design a variety of such coils for the user.
During this year’s DesignCon 2015 exhibition, I stopped by the Würth Elektronik booth and was pleasantly surprised regarding the depth of design that this company has gone to in their wireless power charging and transmitter coils.
First of all, I strongly favor standards and interoperability in any wide-reaching technology as wireless power. Würth Elektronik eiSos (Passive and mechanical components) is a member of the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) as well as the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) also known as “Rezence”. To further solidify and unify the standards, A4WP has agreed to merge with the Power Matters Alliance (PMA). This will help the industry move to a universal standard, hopefully in the near future with the WPC.
Würth Elektronik eiSos has a 5W design kit which meets the Qi standard with optimized components.
NuCurrent has a wireless power antenna technology that is compliant across A4WP, Qi and PMA standards. Their solutions simplify the standards question by eliminating the need for consumers to think about standards. By using their multi-mode solutions, the receiver coil will work with every type of transmitter including Qi, PMA and A4WP. As a matter of fact, NuCurrent’s high-efficiency resonators were selected for the first commercially available A4WP certified products and Wireless Power Consortium’s standard antenna for in-car charging (i.e. charging a mobile phone by placing it on the center armrest of a car).
NuCurrent technology is able to create efficient and flexible Wireless Power Antennas
At low frequency (Qi compliant), where systems usually operate in closer distances of about 2 cm, the benefit of printed coils allow durability, flexibility, scalability and are easily integratable.
At the higher frequency (A4WP compliant), potential benefits are greater power transfer distance, improved orientation flexibility and smaller sizes. The antennas are called “resonators” here and provide the best Q possible along with their small sizes and low pricing because of the ability to implement the design into standard fabrication processes like PCB and flex circuits.
Efficiency is a function of the application, but, in general, NuCurrent’s inductors will be more efficient than any alternative inductor at high frequency (1 MHz+). They commonly experience improvements in Q greater than 20% at 150KHz and 60% at 6.78MHz.
Be sure to watch this technology closely in 2015
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IKEA Will Start Selling Qi Wireless Charging-Enabled Furniture In April 2015
http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/03/01/ikea-will-start-selling-qi-wireless-charging-enabled-furniture-in-april-2015/
IKEA is jumping on the wireless charging bandwagon. The world’s largest furniture maker and retailer understands the demands of the modern home. In a bid to streamline your interior’s design as much as possible, remove redundant elements, and get rid of the cable clutter everywhere, it has designed a collection of bedside tables, lamps, and desks, with integrated wireless charging spots.
The collection, which is designed by David Wahl, employs the most common standard, Qi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New IKEA Collection Blends Style with Qi Wireless Charging Functionality IKEA’s home furnishings embed charging spots and propel Qi further into mainstream adoption
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-ikea-collection-blends-style-with-qi-wireless-charging-functionality-300043223.html
BARCELONA, Spain, March 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Global home furnishings retailer IKEA today announced a product launch of Qi-powered bedside tables, lamps and desks that eliminates cable mess and makes it easier to stay connected with always-charged mobile devices.
IKEA said the wireless charging home furnishings will be available in Europe and North America this April, followed by a global rollout. The announcement girds support for Qi – the leading global wireless charging standard from the Wireless Power Consortium.
“IKEA is delivering on its vision of making life at home better with this innovative, stylish and useful new collection that show consumers the beauty and simplicity of wireless charging,” said Menno Treffers, WPC chairman. “We applaud IKEA for its unmatched insight and their unique passion for making wireless charging affordable and simple for consumers.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power can be quickly transferred from one device to another
Integrated Device Technology has introduced the Wireless Power Share technology, which allows a second device power can be transferred wirelessly to another use.
It is a transmitter circuit, which also acts as a receiver. P9700 series become the new circuit supports all three wireless charging standard: A4WP’s (Alliance for Wireless Power), magnetic resonance, and PMA (Power Matters Alliance) and WPC (Wireless Power Consortium) for induction-based technique.
If the device is to support any of these standards the receiver, it can be downloaded by simply placing a device on or near the smartphone with the IDT transmitter circuit.
NEW generate charging 5 to 10 W of power.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2508:virtaa-voi-pian-siirtaa-laitteesta-toiseen&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
WPT breaks all connections, Part 1
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4438850/WPT-breaks-all-connections–Part-1?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150312&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150312&elq=4e99fa3e825343c880454e6adef2695d&elqCampaignId=22047&elqaid=24752&elqat=1&elqTrackId=b8f3934659174bb4babee521d93447f5
Wireless power transfer (WPT) has been the subject of intense interest, bordering on folklore, for over a century. The arrival of the modern cell phone with its innumerable “apps” and rising battery consumption, has recently sparked off a huge upsurge in consumer demand for wireless chargers.
WPT is still maturing as we speak. Mysterious signs have started popping up all around us — in airport kiosks, hotels, coffee shops, inside our cars, even on branded furniture.
All the three standards, despite some differences, are broadly called “inductive MPT” in this article
And we are just getting started! Soon we may start hearing about exotic techniques such as “evanescent wave coupling” and “dielectric resonators”. We may even find ourselves immersed 24/7 in fields of “ubiquitous energy”. Then again, we may not, for health reasons. So, while the debate is still on, and our future speculative, surprisingly, so is our past. Only one thing seems to be certain: WPT as we know it today, didn’t start in its current form, despite appearances. The story has enough twists and turns to keep us on the edges of our seats for a while.
Tracing back the history of WPT is tricky business. We may stumble over some misleading hype strewn along the way. There are potholes of hyperbole too. We may even start to wonder whether a part of us somehow wants to believe in the unbelievable: in the mysterious, the mythical, the magical
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New technology to always keep your mobile phone charged
For most users, the need to charge a smart phone about once a day is the main shortcoming of the device. Israeli Wi-Charge promises to eliminate the need to download completely. The user’s point of view, the smartphone battery is always charged.
Wi-Charge has developed a technique in which infrared light is to charge the mobile device battery life of about 10 meter range at power up to 10 watts.
The solution requires a photovoltaic cell that contains the receiver to install on your smartphone. Wi-Charge rechargeable transmitter to identify devices inside the room, and download them if necessary. You do not need to do anything.
Light energy coming from LED source in the first amplified with fixed mirrors (similar to resonator laser) and them the beam is directed to the host photovoltaic cell in the smart phone. The light is converted into electric current required for the device.
Wi-Charge-charge does not radiate RF energy. Technology also automatically shuts off charging, if the transmitter and the smartphone will be some obstacle in between.
At the initial stage Wi-Charge receiver will be sold as a separate accessory.
Commercial products company expects to have completed 12 to 18 months.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2565:israelilaistekniikka-pitaa-kannykan-aina-ladattuna&catid=13&Itemid=101
Wi-Charge wireless power technology enables
unlimited battery life for all things wireless
http://www.wi-charge.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is 2015 the year of wireless charging?
http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/is-2015-the-year-of-wireless-charging.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222924189&vID=209&page=0&
It has been an incredibly exciting start to 2015 with several major announcements in wireless power along with several noticeable absences.
Recently we saw the first major smartphone manufacturer (major by market share) embed wireless charging into their flagship device. Samsung has decided to build in the WPCs Qi technology into their flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 edge device. Qi wireless charging will be supported out-of-the-box by Samsung for the first time. These new smartphones will also support PMA. This is sometimes called dual-mode. As a WPC steering group member this is great news. You may be surprised to hear me say that, but it really is.
What it means is that companies making a significant investment to deploy infrastructure in coffee shops, cars, airports, home furniture and so on, can make those investments with confidence. There is no longer any fear or uncertainty regarding which standard major smartphones will adopt.
These dual-mode phones are and will continue to drive demand for Qi transmitters. Its not hard to see why. Qi caters to the widest range of applications and offers a clear path forward to resonance whilst guaranteeing full backwards compatibility. Brands like IKEA, AirCharge, McDonalds, Chargespot, Marriott, Toyota to name few are all choosing Qi transmitters. Thats right Qi-only transmitters. In fact, there are over 682 Qi certified devices today.
With the Samsung Galaxy S6 joining the Qi club, today almost every single smartphone manufacturer (except Apple, Levono and Xiaomi) has a flagship device with Qi wireless charging built in. This includes LG, HTC, Google Nexus, Microsoft and Motorola.
Aircharges recently launched app is a great way to find Qi charging spots around the world. It shows that there are over 3,000 locations in a wide variety of locations supporting Qi and this is only the beginning. Businesses are paying to install Qi. To put that in context, the PMA has 200 noted locations all within Starbucks locations. The noticeable absence of the A4WP camp is also interesting. A4WP has no products in the market to date.
Why then did PMA select A4WP as its resonance path forward given how similar WPC and PMA technology are? As an engineer and technologist, its hard to see how PMA and A4WP technologies can result in a single truly interoperable standard. One can always co-house systems, but thats not a cost effective solution nor is it likely to fit in a modern day smartphone.
Additionally, you may find it interesting that most of the press seems to have misinterpreted the merging of two standards organizations as the merging of two standards – which it is not.
We now we have the worlds first resonant system compatible with the most widely deployed wireless power standard. Thats extremely exciting as it provides companies like Samsung a clear path to Resonant Qi with full backwards compatibility to Inductive Qi.
The advancement includes safety features such as foreign object detection, even with multi-device systems, as well as an industry leading 70 percent plus total system efficiency for a fast and effective charge.
PowerbyProxi’s new evaluation kit is a single design which supports both Resonant Qi and Inductive Qi modes
Tomi Engdahl says:
WPT breaks all connections, Part 2
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4438924/WPT-breaks-all-connections–Part-2?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150319&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150319&elq=2d30312fc3324662b36d223bcf9313e7&elqCampaignId=22151&elqaid=24881&elqat=1&elqTrackId=5e2a2c0ffdec4ef2b16c91b364133d23
The 2012 Gen 2 RAV4 EV, as well as the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, use the new non-wireless SAE J1772 standard instead (it needs firm metal connections). The “older” Magne Charge wireless system is now referred to as the J1773 system.
In the late 90’s, the basic induction principle behind inductive WPT found its way into homes through the strangest route: tucked away deep inside Braun’s latest Oral-B electric toothbrushes.
A Massachusetts-based company called AbioMed also pioneered inductive WPT at an early stage. They developed AbioCor, an artificial heart which could be fully implanted within a patient, due to a combination of technological advances in miniaturization, biosensors, plastics and energy transfer. The AbioCor ran on a rechargeable battery, charged by a “transcutaneous energy transmission” (TET) system. This was an under-skin transfer of power.
Splashpower filed several patents in inductive charging before they declared bankruptcy in April 2008. They were quickly purchased a month later by Fulton Innovation
However, even prior to the Splashpower takeover, Fulton Innovation had been steadily working on developing their “eCoupled” technology of wireless charging.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Starbucks, Ikea Enter the Wireless Charging Fray – IEEE Spectrum
http://www.epanorama.net/newepa/2015/03/25/starbucks-ikea-enter-the-wireless-charging-fray-ieee-spectrum/
http://spectrum.ieee.org/view-from-the-valley/consumer-electronics/standards/starbucks-ikea-enter-the-wireless-charging-fray?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IeeeSpectrum+%28IEEE+Spectrum%29&utm_content=FaceBook
My local Starbucks recently swapped out some furniture for tables with built in wireless chargers.
This month, Ikea announced a line of tables, lamps, and desks that double as wireless chargers, shipping in April.
So wireless charging, after years of CES demos involving charging mats and charging bowls and other not particular-appealing gadgets, is finally here, yes? Not exactly. Many battles over consumer electronics standards are quietly fought out in private conference rooms before the technology in question goes on the market, but that’s not what’s happening here.
Starbucks and Ikea have embraced two different and incompatible approaches to wireless charging.
As we’ve known since the Beta/VHS battles, when standards go head to head in the marketplace, it becomes not about which one has the best technology, or even which one has the most powerful patent position, but about which one somehow captures the heart of the consumer.
The Starbucks tables charge mobile devices using Duracell’s Powermat wireless charging technology. The Power Matters Alliance, the group managing the open standard based on the Duracell technology, includes AT&T, Blackberry, HTC, Huawei, LG, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, TI, and ZTE among its 68 members.
Ikea’s line of lamps and tables uses the Qi technology, a standard being managed by the Wireless Power Consortium, which includes Huawei, Logitech, National Semiconductor, Nokia, and Sanyo among its 200 members.
Both standards use inductive charging, in which the base station creates an alternating electromagnetic field that generates a current in the receiving device. The base station and receiver don’t actually have to be in physical contact, but, at the power levels (below 5 W) used by Ikea and Starbucks, they have to be pretty close (within 40 mm). The main difference is the wavelength: 100-205 kHz for Qi and 277-357 kHz for Powermat.
Ikea and Starbucks aren’t the only companies choosing sides in this battle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Can all the wireless charging standards coexist?
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4438981/Can-all-the-wireless-charging-standards-coexist-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20150325&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20150325&elq=df36024f3ffa4bef9daad50266cf4234&elqCampaignId=22222&elqaid=24959&elqat=1&elqTrackId=2c46601ceb9f42e2aafac88c078a2829
The global market for wireless charging is expected to increase 40-fold from $216 million in 2013 to $8.5 billion by 2018, according to IHS.1 The evolution of the sector, however, is impacted by the existence of several mutually incompatible standards. Looking to the future, the question for many developers is whether or not all of these standards can coexist in one consolidated, affordable, and efficient standard for wireless charging.
Although wireless power transfer was conceptualized more than a century ago, it has gained relevance in the past few years, especially after the emergence of standards like Wireless Power Consortium (WPC, 2008), Power Matters Alliance (PMA, 2012), and Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) a.k.a. Rezence (2012).
The key stakeholders in the value chain are device manufactures
and infrastructure companies like McDonalds, Marriott, and Starbucks, which are adopting wireless charging as a value added service to their customers.
Wireless charging — apart from being a consumer electronic accessory — can extend to utilization in the home accessories, medical, automotive, industrial, and defense applications.
Two distinct possibilities that can emerge out of the current standards landscape:
The emergence of a single standard that will drive the quicker adoption of technology.
Workaround to support multi-mode wireless charging, where a single transmitter/receiver can support multiple (WPC/PMA/A4WP) standards
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ikea to start making electrified furniture. What could possibly go wrong?
It’s even mulling apps for tables and chairs
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/01/ikea_qi_charging_flatpack_furniture/
MWC 2015 Ikea, having successfully branded Sweden as a country associated with family disputes and cupboards with wonky doors, has now taken on the challenge of improving how we all live through Qi wireless charging technology.
From 15 April, American and European Ikea customers will be able to buy flat-pack furniture which integrates a Qi standard wireless power mat. Other territories will follow in due course.
The decision to add the products as part of Ikea’s Home Smart Initiative has come from research which showed that families tend to have a place where they charge things – a “home hub” – and that can be the kitchen, the hall or the living room.
Initial products include tables and lamps that can charge one device wirelessly and another through USB, and there will also be a hub device which will charge up to three devices wirelessly. Adding Qi will cost about £20. Block told us that Ikea had been waiting for the technology to mature and become affordable before starting to sell it.
Some customers may want to cut discs out of Ikea’s MDF and drop in a click-in module, which is an option.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wireless Charging Phone MOD
Integrating a qi receiver into a mobile phone
http://hackaday.io/project/5153-wireless-charging-phone-mod
Tomi Engdahl says:
IKEA: The New Wireless Charging Collection, Coming to the U.S. in late Spring
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/pressroom/product_news_current/index.html
With smartphones being such a natural part of our lives, it only makes sense for the charging function to become a natural part of our homes.
That’s why we’ve created a range of wireless chargers that make mobile charging a lot more accessible, yet a lot less obvious. With the help of our wireless chargers. we make charging easy, fun and convenient, by turning furniture into charging spots.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Medical devices: Where wireless charging has real impact
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/power-points/4439240/Medical-devices–Where-wireless-charging-has-real-impact?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_systemsdesign_20150422&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_systemsdesign_20150422&elq=496f8072ab0c41c18e15d2368a4ef928&elqCampaignId=22660&elqaid=25485&elqat=1&elqTrackId=56167ae4afc548d1832421b44e93a57a
Wireless charging of personal devices such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets is a hot topic. Several standards are competing to make it possible to just place the device on a table’s surface or charging pad, and sit back while energy is transferred without the need to connect to a discrete, physical cable. While this might seem a nice but not critical feature at home or office where you have your usual charger and connector already set up, it is a different story in a public place where you need the appropriate charger connector (USB, iPhone, and others), and the cord/connector are subject to extensive use, abuse, and even vandalism. Anytime you can seal the interface between unit A and unit B, that’s good in terms of public access, reliability, and options for mischief.
Wireless charging still faces some challenges, but there has been lots of progress in standardization (admittedly with several competing standards), availability of needed ICs and other components, defining physical form factors, and other aspects. It’s hard to say if it will catch on and have long-term success, as there are associated costs with respect to components, size, and charging time.
But there are situations where practical wireless charging would bring real benefits: implanted medical devices. In many cases, the battery’s size is a limiting factor in use, since it needs to power the device for several years. In some cases, such as brain stimulators, the battery is actually sited in the patient’s chest, with wires running between the two locations—obviously, not a desirable situation, but there is no choice.
Why not use wireless charging for medical implants? It has been done, but with mixed results. There are several obstacles: the distance of between one and as much as five cm, the body tissue and fluids between source and receiver, the small size of the implant (as little as a few millimeters), and movement of the receiver target, to cite a few. The obvious approach using inductive transfer only works adequately when the source and racier are close and properly oriented , and the receiver coil is relatively large; it is already in use for some types of cochlear implants where these conditions can be met. However, it’s not viable for pacemakers and other deeper implanted devices.
Yet there is innovation and progress, as shown by an article in Physics Today, “Wireless power for tiny medical implants.”
These results were impressive. The Stanford group reports that “in experiments on a pig cadaver, 0.04% of the source power was transferred to a 2-mm receiver 5 cm beneath the surface” using 1.6 GHz radiation. Yes, you read that right: just 0.04% – which would be totally unacceptable for charging a consumer device such as a smartphone. But the report notes that even such a low efficiency is sufficient for many implanted devices (a state-of-the-art cardiac pacemaker uses under 10 uW, far, orders of magnitude less than a consumer product.
Wireless power for tiny medical implants
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/article/67/8/10.1063/PT.3.2464
A new scheme could allow pacemakers, brain stimulators, and more to leave their batteries behind.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Integrated Device Technology, says that the Swedish furniture giant IKEA has chosen the wireless transceiver circuits for future furniture and decorative objects, to which are added the ability to charge mobile devices wirelessly. IKEA rely on the IDT-P9030 circuits, devices which load magnetic induction force.
IKEA has also developed a charging platforms and mobile charger, which customers can self-install the furniture. All of these products are based on IDT’s charging circuits.
P9030-sent are compatible with the Wireless Power Consortium Qi standard. They produce five watts of power charging. Qi receivers can be found in many smartphones, phones, accessories and wearable electronic equipment.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2729:ikean-huonekalut-lataamaan-langattomasti&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wireless Charging Gets Universal Antenna
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326435&
Officials at NuCurrent believe the company’s 50 patents in areas such as how to circumvent the skin effect will help them plug into success in the market for multi-mode wireless charging.
“The rate limiting factor [in wireless charging] is not antennas but the battery circuit itself,” NuCurrent CEO Jacob Babcock told EE Times.
Babcock explained that a recharge cycle might miss a full charge by several watts if the battery gets too hot.
“NuCurrent invented the ML wire — it’s like bundling 100 drinking straws together to pass through liquid — then we optimized conductive area available based on skin depth of a frequency. We’re able to pass more current with lower resistance through that wire,” Babcock said.
NuCurrent produces multi-mode antennas for wireless charging. Its antennas can support Qi, Power Matters Association (PMA), and Association for Wireless Power (A4WP) standards, which all operate at different frequencies. Thus it must manage several skin temperature possibilities.
To help manage heat from various charges, NuCurrent uses the same coil for inductive Qi (110 and 205 kHz) and resonant PMA (200 to 300 kHz) standards. It uses a second coil for A4WP (6.78 MHz) resonant charging on the same board.
NuCurrent’s antennas are up to 0.08mm thin, and as small as 12.7mm x 12.7mm. They power mobile devices from 50mW – 2.5W and up to 50W. The antennas also have NFC capability.
“The devices that I think need wireless power the most right now are medical devices like neuro-stimulators, hearing aids, and wearables,” Babcock noted.
“Unless Qi resonant becomes more pervasive and…we don’t see the progress on the [Qi-based] Wireless Power Consortium’s resonant technology that we think is necessary for [WPC’s standard] to be pervasive,”
“I think [the eventual standard] will be a form of resonant technology and as of right now, will more likely be A4WP because they have an 18-24 month start on Qi resonant.”
EPC create a wireless power transfer demo capable of delivering up to 35 W into a DC load while operating at 6.78 MHz.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Medical devices: Where wireless charging has real impact
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/power-points/4439240/Medical-devices–Where-wireless-charging-has-real-impact?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150427&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150427&elq=d8e7743b69a04b93b856d7cf815aade5&elqCampaignId=22726&elqaid=25562&elqat=1&elqTrackId=f1dbe6e46b9d48d28fe4afd871b362a2
Wireless charging of personal devices such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets is a hot topic. Several standards are competing to make it possible to just place the device on a table’s surface or charging pad, and sit back while energy is transferred without the need to connect to a discrete, physical cable. While this might seem a nice but not critical feature at home or office where you have your usual charger and connector already set up, it is a different story in a public place where you need the appropriate charger connector (USB, iPhone, and others), and the cord/connector are subject to extensive use, abuse, and even vandalism. Anytime you can seal the interface between unit A and unit B, that’s good in terms of public access, reliability, and options for mischief.
Wireless charging still faces some challenges, but there has been lots of progress in standardization (admittedly with several competing standards), availability of needed ICs and other components, defining physical form factors, and other aspects. It’s hard to say if it will catch on and have long-term success, as there are associated costs with respect to components, size, and charging time. If it doesn’t work out, the traditional technique of connecting a charger via a cable assembly is still a viable and well-established fall-back alternative.
But there are situations where practical wireless charging would bring real benefits: implanted medical devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
uBeam’s Ultrasound Wireless Charging Is About To Be Funded
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/04/ubeams-ultrasound-wireless-charging-is-about-to-be-funded/
Wireless charging technology at the moment isn’t really wireless per se. You’d still have to put it on a wireless charging mat which means that there is only so much freedom you have when it comes to moving it around. The only upside is that you’ll have one less cable to trip over. However last year we reported on a company called uBeam that was developing technology that would allow for wireless charging via ultrasound.
The good news is that if you wanted to see that technology made available, the folks at TechCrunch are reporting that there are several major brands who are vying for the opportunity to invest in the company in hopes of scoring exclusive deals, which in turn would allow them to offer uBeam’s wireless charging technology at their retail locations. In fact Starbucks, a company who currently offers wireless charging in some markets, is said to be close to landing a deal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
There are many kinds of wireless charging ideas searching for your money, and some ideas might not be that feasible, here is one idea:
TechCrunch Disrupt: Charging A Phone With Its Own Transmitter
http://hackaday.com/2015/05/05/techcrunch-disrupt-charging-a-phone-with-its-own-transmitter/
The offending Disrupt startup is Nikola Labs, and they’re gearing up to launch a Kickstarter for a very special iPhone 6 case. This case uses small, energy-harvesting antennas to gather RF energy from the cellphone tucked away in this case. This energy is then sent to a rectifier where it is converted into something the Apple Lightning connector can sip power from. According to Nikola Labs, this RF harvesting antenna takes energy from the transmissions of the iPhone 6 entombed in this case, converts it to about 5 Volts, and uses that to charge the iPhone battery.
I know that seems difficult to understand, so here’s a simple analogy: you have a flashlight with a battery and a solar cell. The solar cell recharges the battery. If this were a Nikola Labs flashlight, you would recharge it by shining the flashlight onto the solar cell.
That is the simplest explanation of what the Nikola Labs cellphone case does, and illuminates the limitations of what it can do. If the ‘energy harvesting circuit’ collects power from the device it is recharging, it will reduce the transmission power of whatever is transmitting. With the cellphone case, you’re spending transmission power (plus efficiency losses) to recharge the battery. That means poorer reception and fewer bars.
Nearly every other RF harvesting idea that has been pitched in recent memory decouples the transmitter (or ‘generator’, I guess) with the product or receiver. The square cube law is an evil mistress, and if you’re wondering why these devices don’t work, [ch00f], a guy with an actual engineering degree, has a great writeup of one of these products over on Drop Kicker.
The Nikola Labs cellphone case bucks this trend by looking at the shortcomings of these devices; an RF rechargeable Bluetooth tag won’t work if you place it a foot away from a WiFi router, but it just might if you tape it to the antenna. This is the idea behind Nikola Labs’ invention: harvest energy from a few millimeters away from the cell phone’s antenna.
In theory, the Nikola Labs cellphone case will actually recharge your battery, but at a price: you’d be wasting your transmission power on recharging the battery. It’s a false economy that you’ll be able to fund on Kickstarter next month for $100 USD. If you’re only looking for more battery life, walk into any gas station, buy a $10 USB power bank/battery
Nikola Labs Launches iPhone 6 Case Which Harvests Electricity From The Air
http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/04/nikola-labs-launches-iphone-6-case-which-harvests-electricity-from-the-air/
Nikola Tesla pioneered the transmission of electricity over wires. Heinrich Hertz proved it could be transmitted wirelessly. But we still use 19th centre technology to power 21st century devices.
Nikola Labs — which pitched today on stage after being selected by TechCrunch editorial team and the audience as the Wild Card choice from Startup Alley — launched a device that converts radio frequencies into DC power, and, they claim, can therefore power devices.
Today they launched their first product using the technology: a case for an iPhone 6. It converts the wasted 90 percent of energy the phone produces trying to pump out a cellphone signal, and puts it back into the phone, thus powering it for up to 30 percent longer
Note: This is not an extra battery; it simply works passively. Essentially it is harvesting back the ambient RF energy already being produced by the phone.
Appropriately, Nikola Labs launched its product in the very building Tesla himself lived and eventually died in.
Tomi Engdahl says:
iFind RF energy harvesting bluetooth beacon
http://drop-kicker.com/2014/06/ifind-rf-energy-harvesting-bluetooth-beacon/
A few weeks ago a new device entered the ever-widening bluetooth beacon market on Kickstarter. Unlike the competition, the new iFind from WeTag Inc. promises that it can offer all of the features of a standard bluetooth beacon without ever needing a battery charge or replacement. This bold feature is relatively unexplained leading to a large amount of online skepticism.
iF in doubt…
With all of the challenges outlined above, it’s no surprise that the internet met the iFind campaign with skepticism. Hackaday posted a general discussion topic about the viability of such a solution; among the comments were concerns that a bluetooth beacon requires more power than is available to a device as small as the iFind. While a proprietary sensor network may be able to store up energy for hours before transmitting any information, a device adhering to the guidelines of the bluetooth specification cannot wait so long between consecutive transmissions. Other complaints involved the general vagueness of the project regarding its proprietary “power bank” and the secret sauce that allows it to perform as well as claimed.
Being able to power a device off of ambient RF harvesting is no small feat and yet you’re using it to power a bluetooth beacon *and* an accelerometer. By my estimates, an accelerometer such as the LIS3DH will draw somewhere on the order of 30mAh a year in a standby “wake-on-shake” state which is not a trivial amount.
“The power bank calculations as you have stated are correct. The bank does have an equivalent of around 15.5 mAHr. The charging graph was for a tag that was only enabled in sleep mode. The firmware will not let the tag operate until a predefined level is reached. In operational mode to maintain a rope of 0.036mA, without any draw from the bank needs 110uW (Maximum: you missed some residuals) to run, so 275uW at the input with an RF/ DC efficiency (40%) worst case. That translates to -5.6 dBm at the input.”
So while the report was full of claims about charging the device in 1.5 hours at 10mW, the critical number is that the device needs to receive an average of .275mW to operate in one second rope mode. I did a little math to try and see how close to an RF transmitter the iFind would need to be placed to operate in this mode:
Assuming you have an antenna of 27x32mm (best case considering the dimensions of your device), you will need a energy flux of 318mW per square meter.
assuming that this access point has the maximum allowable output of 1000mW with a omnidirectional antenna, to get 318mW per square meter, you would need to stand within approximately 50cm of the antenna.
This is a little troubling. The campaign makes it clear that the iFind will not operate when it is a remote location (The Sahara Desert is often given as an example), but the amount of RF required to keep the device functioning is very high. 50cm from a 1000mW transmitter is already asking a lot, but most conventional WiFi routers don’t even output at that level.
Ask Hackaday: Can Battery-Free Bluetooth Item Locating Tags Exist?
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/21/ask-hackaday-can-battery-free-bluetooth-item-locating-tags-exist/