Wireless Charging is Coming of Age

Setting your phone or another portable device on a pad or stand and having it charge wirelessly is a relatively new technology that most people are not aware of yet. However, it is starting to make inroads into the market and will surely be common for everyone soon.

It is very convenient to just place your phone in your wireless charging station without fumbling with your microUSB cord and having to make sure you have the proper orientation of the connector to plug it in. Of course some of this is partially being alleviated by the adoption of USB Type-C connectors, but the transition to this type is far from universal.

The Wurth Electronics Wireless Power Kit

The principle behind wireless charging is electromagnetic induction.  The charging station has coils of wire that generate a magnetic field when current is passed through them. This magnetic field will then induce electrical current in a coil in very close proximity without any physical contact between the coils. The induced current is then used by the portable device’s charging circuitry to charge its battery.

One drawback to wireless charging is that it is typically only 60% to 70% efficient¹. However, this is not much less than a typical wired charger where efficiencies can range from 63% to 80% depending on the manufacturer². The convenience alone of just being able to set down and pick up your phone throughout the day without having to deal with a cord outweighs the small efficiency loss in my opinion. Additionally, lithium-ion battery chemistry has no problem dealing with the short energy bursts provided by a wireless charging station if you are constantly picking your phone up and replacing it in the station in a typical day.

If you want experiment with wireless charging yourself, a complete plug-and-play wireless power design kit is now available from DigiKey. Wurth Electronics and ROHM Semiconductor have partnered together to produce this new medium power solution kit which is compliant to the Qi 1.2 standard with extended power.

Fast wireless power integration into your design is allowed by a flexible and modular approach. This kit comes fully loaded with the transmitter module, receiver module, LED load module, as well as a quick start guide and power adapter with EU, US, and UK adaptors. With all of these features, the Wurth wireless power kit can be used as a full-featured development platform right out of the box. Use of this kit could reduce time to market significantly for your design.

The option of wireless charging is a convenience that more and more consumers will be adopting as the technology becomes more well known. As this happens, it may be safe to assume that products which utilize wireless charging will become more attractive and desirable. Using kits like this one will ease your wireless charging design burden while letting you spend more time focusing on other aspects of your system.

References:

1 – How It Works: Wireless Charging

2 – A dozen USB chargers in the lab: Apple is very good, but not quite the best