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Wireless Charge Everything In A Room All At Once

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Wi-Charge

Wireless charging is one of the technologies that has been slow to come and has failed to live up to high expectations. The industry has been challenged by competing standards, conflicting design requirements, and the chicken and the egg dilemma – which do you need first: the charging station or the device that can use it? In addition, existing wireless charging solutions have been little more than a cord replacement because the device still needs to be very close to the charging pad or station. However, Wi-Charge appears to have overcome those limitations with a platform that will allow true wireless charging over 50 square meters, enough to cover a room or any other relatively confined location.

There are currently two primary wireless charging standards in the market – the Wireless Power Consortium with its Qi platform and the AirFuel Alliance (formerly A4WP and PMA). Both solutions use resonant inductive charging requiring a receiving device to be within 4 cm of the charging platform and perfectly aligned to get the maximum charge. As the power has increased to upwards of 15W, these solutions have become more useful to a wider range of consumer electronics ranging from electric toothbrushes to smartphones and tablet. Over time, more devices and charging platforms have become available, especially as major smartphones from industry leaders Apple and Samsung have adopted the technology in an effort to eliminate external ports. Other vendors are exploring the use of RF signals for wireless charging, but RF charging is less efficient requiring more power to deliver a lower charge and still faces distance limitations after about a meter.

Wi-Charge

At CES 2018 in January, Wi-Charge introduced a new form of wireless charging using infrared (IR) beam to send a charge over the air to a receiving device. Just like a TV remote, the IR signal is a line-of-sight solution that requires the sending and receiving sensors to be in unobstructed visual contact. While any obstruction can halt the charging process, it does allow charging up to 10 meters with almost no loss of charge because of the focus of the beam.

A single charging port mounted on the ceiling of a room that performs sweeps to identify both stationary devices and new devices as they enter the room can initiate a charging signal to a device for as long as the path is unobstructed or until the device is charged. The current platform can charge up to 3 devices simultaneously and all communications between the platforms are over the focused IR signal. This is an effective way to not only charge mobile consumer devices but other stationary solutions like wireless door locks and security solutions. The limitation is that it cannot charge a device that is not in the direct line of sight of the transmitter.

The current Wi-Charge technology provides up to 3W of power over 10 meters. If a signal is obstructed, such as a person walking in front of the beam, the signal is halted. According to Wi-Charge, the current platform meets the US and international safety standards and has been approved by the US FDA. While the power level is lower than some inductive solutions, the longer charging distance is a key differentiation.

Wi-Charge

The company also highlights how this can be a compliment to existing resonant charging solutions. The Wi-Charge technology could be used to charge batteries in a Qi or AirFuel solution at night when an office is empty or no one is walking around the house and there is little chance of interrupting the charging signal. The next day, the battery could be used to charge the device without ever having to be connected to a wall socket, essentially enabling the existing wireless charging solutions to become wireless battery packs.

Wi-Charge

At Mobile World Congress Americas in Los Angeles this week, two companies planning to leverage the Wi-Charge IR technology demonstrated unique platforms. Swiss lighting manufacturer Monlicht demonstrated Wi-Charge transmitters integrated into lighting panels. Additionally, ZKTeco USA demonstrated the integration of Wi-Charge into a smart lock, eliminating the need for wires or battery replacements. According to Wi-Charge, products using the technology should be available in 2019.

TIRIAS Research believes that improvements in processing technology, wireless charging, wireless communications, and sensors will help drive Internet of Things (IoT) applications over the next decade and to the hype-levels originally predicted.

The author and members of the TIRIAS Research staff do not hold equity positions in any of the companies mentioned. TIRIAS Research tracks and consults for companies throughout the electronics ecosystem from semiconductors to systems and sensors to the cloud. Members of the TIRIAS Research team have not consulted for Wi-Charge or any of the wireless charging organizations.

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