Wireless Power at CES 2016

Wireless Power

Wireless Power is one of the big topics for future electronics power. Cota is one of the players but there are plenty more wanting to be part of this emerging technology area.

 

The main issue is not just charging devices in cradles, but charging them wherever they are. Even moving. So how does that work?

 

Wireless Power in 2016

Finally we have details on this crucial question. At the USA CES 2016 show we have input from multiple companies. One writer concluded that Wireless Power is the hot topic for CES 2016.

 

Ossia Cota Wireless Power

Ossia Cota Wireless Power

Ossia‘s Cota technology is still a leading contender and has several reasons for this. The key point is that devices wanting power broadcast their intent and the transmitter uses multiple antennas to record the incoming request and then beam form a power send based on the request back to the requesting device. The use of multiple antennas means the power density is kept to an acceptably low level until the power converges on the requesting antenna.

 

If the request rate is 100Hz then you have to be moving pretty fast to not get power from a system like this.

 

The drawback, is a 12.5% power transfer efficiency at best. Even so, for low power devices or Internet of Things (IoT) devices this means you might be able to operate on rechargeable batteries without any wires or other charging schemes.

 

The other 2 major contenders are uBeam and Energous and it is still to be seen which technology will ultimately prove the most adaptable.

 

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2016 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.

Wireless Power

Wireless Power Is Coming

In a very real sense it is already here in part. Wireless Charging is becoming mainstream. But seriously powering a device wirelessly has been a difficult challenge and there are many who think it will never be effective unless done at power levels that would be unsafe.

So it was with interest that I read of Cota by Ossia which claims to be able to deliver 1W of real power in a regular home in a way that is not only safe but well advanced in their approval process with the FCC for use in the USA.

 

Qi Wireless Charging

There are several efforts to product ubiquitous wireless charging and we are already working with one of those technologies. This is Qi Wireless Charging and chipsets and standards have been agreed as part of the Wireless Power Consortium. This creates one very useful ecosystem where devices and chargers from different manufacturers are interoperable.

Qi wireless

Qi wireless

Qi works by using inductive coupling and some smart power devices that communicate with each other over the coupling. This two way communications allows the power transmitter to optimise its performance to suit the power receiver.

Qi Tx Rx Block Diagram

Qi Tx Rx Block Diagram

Cota

So Cota is a very exciting new development that allows significant wireless power transfer at distances of metres rather than millimetres. The technology was officially unveiled at TechCrunch Disrupt 2013 in San Francisco. Backed by patents from 2007 and looking like it will soon gain FCC approval there is quite a buzz about the first commercially viable Wireless Power Technology.

Cota Hardware

Cota Hardware

I’ll be watching this space carefully because the applications for Wireless Sensor Networks is huge.

 

Successful Endeavours specialise in Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development. Ray Keefe has developed market leading electronics products in Australia for nearly 30 years. This post is Copyright © 2013 Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd.