Wireless Charging

Wireless Charging

 

 Mobile phones, tablets, portable electronics, power tools, EVs(electric vehicles)....they all have something common --they all require cables or wires to charge up . Until now.
  You place your phone on your beside table, and it automatically starts charging. You place your handblender on the kitchen counter-top and it charges itself. You walk into a coffee shop or airport lobby, and your phones and tablets get a full power boost even as you recharge yourself with a coffee. That would really feel good, right? Well, such visions of  'Wireless charging' are no longer a fantasy. Inductive charging or wireless charging technology is gradually stabilising, and gaining popularity.
 

Silicon designers and manufacturers, including IDT, Texas Instruments, Freescale semiconductor and Intel, are focusing on wireless charging chips (transceivers and receivers).

How Wireless Charging Works

Wireless charging is immediately appealing because it allows you to charge your smartphone whithout fiddling with USB plugs. Just place the smartphone on a wireless charger and it will start charging. Of course, the wireless charger itself must still be plugged into the wall.
 

Wireless charging is more accurately described as "inductive charging" because it uses magnetic induction. Inductive charging is a method which a magneticfield transfers electricity from an external source (the charger) to a mobile device (your phone, PSP, etc.) without the use of standard wiring. It does this by generating a magnetic field and creating a current in this receiving device. With the compatible receiver attached to your device - in the form of a chip, case or sleeve - electricity can move through the air and recharge your device's battery.
   Wireless charging is one of many new features appearing in the latest smartphones, from Google's Nexus 4 and Samsung's Galaxy S4 to Nokia's Lumia 920. There are even cases that add wireless charging capabilities to Apple's iPhone5. There are wireless charging sleeves for the iPhone and other devices, and there are dozes of wireless chargers (charging pads) available in the market from Duracell, Energizer, etc, including those from JBL and Panasonic that double up as music players or alarm clocks. Tood chains like Starbucks and McDonald's are piloting wireless charging services at their outlets, while building material manufacturers like DuPont are thinking on the lines of embedding wireless charging chips into kitchen countertops. Car manufacturers are incorporating in-car wireless charging for mobile phones, and technologies like Qualcomm Halo promise wireless charging of electric vehicles.
   On top of that, there are also signs of emerging standards. The  Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) has a significant head start in this race. It has already standardised Qi, but seems to be in for serious competition as the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) and the Alliance for Wireless Power garner increasing support and work towards standardising their specifications too.