The Next Big Thing: Wireless Charging From Across The Room
It has been roughly 10 years since the modern era of computing began and I mean it in terms of portability. Back then, portability was being touted as the next big thing in the computing landscape.
With the arrival of the smartphones, tablets, phablets and laptops, this objective of portability has been achieved. We can take our work, media, games, music and the entire web along with us wherever we go.
In the world of technology, there is never a state of stagnancy. We are always looking for the next big thing that will amaze us, make our lives even easier, more productive and find solutions to existing problems.
In the consumer electronics space, the biggest problem right now is of charging the enormous amounts of devices we own. And now, with the introduction of Internet of Things (IoT), the problem becomes bigger and one that needs a solution asap. That is exactly what some companies are working on with a solution in distance wireless charging.
1. Energous
Energous is numero uno on my list. This company has the most promising solution to our charging woes, in my opinion. Energous has come up with a technology they are calling WattUp which uses radio frequency (RF) to charge a device from up to 15 feet away from the transmitter.
Basically, the system is set up like this. There is a transmitter which is connected to a wall outlet and there are receivers that are small enough to be fitted into any devices (even smartwatches).
The transmitters transmit radio frequency in the range of 5.850 - 5.875 GHz which is just outside the 5 GHz that is becoming popular in wifi routers. The receivers inside the devices then convert these radio frequencies into power to charge the devices.
This technology has been demoed at CES this year and seems to work just fine. Energous has been rumoured time and again to work with Apple to integrate this technology in the next iPhones in 2017.
2. Ossia Cota
Ossia is a Washington based company that promises to charge your smartphone from 30 feet away. It has come up with a transmitter that is being called Cota, that works similarly to how WattUp works. It uses RF to send power wirelessly.
The Cota is a cylindrical shaped transmitter (or charger) that has hundreds of tiny beacons inside it that can transmit RF over 2.8 GHz band upto a radius of 30 feet.
A device that is fitted with the company’s proprietary transceiver can ‘request’ a charge by sending a small packet of information to the Cota charging stations. After that, an invisible path is created between the device and the charger through which power is transmitted wirelessly.
The company is already in talks with case manufacturers and has partnered with Japanese telecom provider KDDI to ensure that IoT can take full advantage of this technology.
3. Wi-Charge
A company founded in 2010, completely reimagines the charging game. Instead of using the electricity from the outlets to send power wirelessly, it has come up with a way to use light!
The light used here is infrared light beam and not the light coming out of your bulbs in your lamps (that would be cooler, I know, but sort of impossible too).
Basically the transmitter sends beams of infrared lights to a receiver, that is fitted inside an electronic device. The cool thing here is that the transmitter can actually be integrated into something elegant like a ceiling lamp. So, there are no unsightly transmitters to look at. Real invisibility, people!
Since the system uses infrared light, there won’t be any electromagnetism involved like with most other solutions (thought they are pretty harmless). Also, the working range is between 15 to 30 feet.
The biggest challenge here is that the devices need to be in direct line of sight to get charged meaning they won’t charge if they are in your pockets. Also, it will be at least 2 years before we see this come to life.
Conclusion
I think, that by 2020, wireless charging will be pretty common with many top smartphone companies looking to spice their offerings beyond just the usual faster specs. But it is just my own prediction.
As with any new technology, and one that is as revolutionary as this, unforeseen problems can occur at any time can push it further into the future.
But with large companies with huge cash pile now getting involved, this area of technology looks promising and is poised to be the next big thing in the technological landscape. The future is one without wires.
Clever technology, but I can't help thinking there may be consequences to pumping out this much energy into the RF spectrum.
Our bodies are made up of vibrating molecules and there have been links between cancer and cellphones that are held close to the body for long periods of time.
There has even been studies showing that cellphones may be causing infertility in men: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17655195
Cellphones only output around 500-600mW of power. The Energous/WattUp device transmits 15W @5.8gGHz for 5ft distance; Ossia Cota 8W @2.4GHz for 1 device; Wi-Charge 10Watts of Infrared using a Class 1 laser (which sounds the safest).
These devices do sound wonderfully convenient, but nobody knows what long-term effects they may have at power levels many times those of cellphones - which are having unintended effects on some people's bodies.
Sources...
Energous/WattUp:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/energous-wattup-wireless-charging-haier,27944.html
Ossia Cota:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/consumer-electronics/gadgets/ossias-cota-wireless-power-tech-promises-to-enable-the-internet-of-everything
WiCharge:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/consumer-electronics/portable-devices/wicharge-promises-phone-charging-by-infrared-laser
The standard CB radio transmitter thats in every truck has up to 12-16 watts of power. Ham radios (which you need an operators license for) broadcast in the 2.4ghz band at up to 1500 watts.
What youre forgetting about is the inverse square law. The power of the RF signal thats actually hitting your body is inversely porportional to the square of your distance from the source. WHat makes cell phones potentially dangerous (though theres nothing really conclusive) is that they are typcially kept so close to the body. For example, your cell phone transmits at .5 watts, and you carry it so that the transmitter is around .5 inches from your body (my personal estimate).
A wireless charger in the ceiling transmits 15W power, but its always at least 1 foot from you (unless youre really tall, or have low ceilings).
The 15w power is 24 times as far from you (.5 inches compared to 12 inches), which means the sigmal power has 1/(24*24)=1/576 as much power. So though the signal starts out with 30x more power, but by the time it actually hits you, its only has about .05 times the power as the signal hitting you from your cell phone.
In order to give you comparable exposure to having a cell phone in your pocket, you would to need to have something transmitting at around 250w in the ceiling.
Well, I do not fully understand the technicality of it, but, the companies working on the various ways of achieving wireless charging have stated again and again they are totally safe. Whether that really is the case is, of course, yet to be seen.
Also, as with any technology, improvements will come in the future once the said technologies are introduced, which will make them safer to use.
The next big thing may be wireless charging from across the room, but will this lead to nuked balls?
SP characters used a microwave to nuke their balls. Microwaves have about 100 times the power as the devices being discussed (i think the typical range is something like 800w-1200w)
No it won't. A high dose is required for that to happen.
One additional note to all this.. i think the biggest roadblock to wireless charging isn't safety, its that it could very well be rendered obselete by next generation energy storage.
research into Lithium sulfer/solid state type batteries and other next generation contenders are making serious progress because theyre being driven (CWIDT?) by the electric car market.
If wireless charging takes 3 years to get here, it might well be released into a market where charging your cell phone means plugging it in for an hour or two once a week.
You make a really good point. I did a post about the next generation energy storage technology and seems like that is further into the future than wireless charging.
Lets see how all this plays out.
Cool review a few products I wasn't yet aware of. Thanks for the heads-up and for sharing such quality work with us all. Namaste :)
It's always interesting to find out how our lives will be made more convenient. And right now, let me tell you, getting rid of having to charge the phones (or other devices) again and again, will be the biggest convenience!
I hear you! That change will be a total revolution in terms of energy trade... ...And time expenses! Namaste :)
Nice basic overview of this exciting technology. I sold my shares of Energous just this week. You can almost always expect a big run up of this companies stock in the month before a new Iphone release. After reading some analysis on Seeking Alpha, I decided that Energous (WATT) is too far off from getting this technology launched. Its definitely worth a small speculative bet though. Imagine these little transmitters on light posts, stop lights, soda machines, refrigerators, etc. Each time these transmitters send electricity to your device, Energous gets a small payment. The implications are massive!
There are persistent rumours that Energous has been working with Apple for quite some time and that the technology will be introduced in the 2017 iPhones. So that's not quite far off.
Agreed, the rumor was also in effect for 2016. Check the stock price and volume per and post Iphone7. Might be a nice follow up to analyse this and do a follow up piece. I really enjoy your content!
yeah, I was pretty disappointed when it didn't land in 2016. Hope it does next year, because having such a revolutionary technology will be so futuristic, isn't it? :D
Thank you for reading my posts. It's always so motivating :)
Really Interesting !!