Tag Archives: wireless charging

At this week’s IFA 2024  the WPC (Wireless Power Consortium) announced the next wireless power transfer standard, Ki (pronounced kee). At the consumer electronics show in Berlin, the consortium’s booth had demonstrations of prototype kitchen appliances powered wirelessly via Ki. The standard will wireless deliver up to 2.2kW to smart appliances without a cable in sight. Ki works in a ...

Infineon is aiming at wireless charging at up to 50W with a wireless power transmitter development kit. Called REF_WLC_TX50W_N1, it consists of the reference board, firmware and software utility called the ‘wireless charging configuration utility’. The design is a Qi-compatible transmitter, with an MP-A2 type transmitter coil, that delivers 50W to Infineon’s own receiver (REF_WLC_RX50W_N1) and a proprietary protocol, taking ...

Multiple transmit coils can ease positional constraints in wireless charging systems, but it is not easy to optimise power transfer. Now Korean engineers have found an elegant way to do it, only measuring the reflected receiver impedance from each transmit coil and processing that to decide how much current each transmitter should deliver. “Our strategy breaks away from the more traditional ...

Panthronics is aiming at wireless chargers for earbuds, lifestyle-tracker wristbands with a sinewave power driver for inductive antennas. PTX100W can deliver over 2.5W to devices batteries smaller than 500mAh and small antennas, using NFC-like connections. “Qi wireless charging, popular in smartphones, is unsuitable for smaller devices because it requires a large antenna and costly circuitry,” according to the company. “Qi antennas ...

Wireless charging pads for phones don’t need to have dead-spots, if materials with unnatural electromagnetic properties – meta-materials – are used, according to University of Oxford spin-out Metaboards. The company has been set-up to exploit meta-materials in a variety of applications. “We will focus on wireless power and data, and then move on to other markets,” CEO Nedko Ivanov told ...

A Japanese research engineer has created a thin flexible wireless charging array that can be cut to size with scissors in almost arbitrary ways. “You can do more than just cut this sheet into fun or interesting shapes,” said Ryo Takahashi of the University of Tokyo. “The sheet is thin and flexible so you can mold it around curved surfaces ...

Powermat has joined the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), the standards development group- responsible for developing a standard for wireless power. The Israeli company says it will contribute its inductive charging technology to the consortium to advance inductive wireless charging capabilities while maintaining backwards compatibility to the existing Qi ecosystem. “Powermat was one of the pioneers that recognised the value of ...

Semtech has announced at CES in Las Vegas a family of wireless charging transmitters and receivers that support applications requiring up to 40W of power. But the charging power transmitter is also backwards compatible, supporting Qi-enabled phones. The firm says it has used a firmware-based approach and proprietary communication protocol between the transmitter and receiver at 40W in its LinkCharge 40 system. It will revert ...

Würth Elektronik is demonstrating a Qi Standard compatible wireless power design kit for the medium power range. The 15W wireless power design kit has been jointly developed with the Japanese IC supplier Rohm Semiconductor. Both companies will be taking about the technology at the Electronica exhibition in Munich this week. The kit contains transmitter module, receiver module, LED load module, quick ...

Wireless charging points for mobile phones are starting to appear in some McDonald’s and Starbucks stores, and wireless charging for consumer phones is expected to increase dramatically in the next year. “McDonald’s, Starbucks, Marriott and Hilton already offer wireless charging in some locations, and further penetration of the technology in more public areas will intensify growth in the public infrastructure ...