Business value proposition of wireless power charging:
Convenient, safe, efficient and green - The ability of
wireless power technology to transfer power safely, efficiently, and over
distance can improve products by making them more convenient, reliable, and
environmentally friendly.
If companies are able to transmit this added value provided
to customers they will boost sales. Also, they will promote their brand image
and awareness as many people care about our planet today and you give the impression that you do care too. They will accomplish cost savings and will stimulate additional creative ways in which to apply the technology in the market through competition. If they
reach interoperability, even better!
Companies
developing different wireless power technologies are currently fighting to
become the industry standard for wireless power applications.
To
move beyond the technology itself, one of the requirements for wider adoption
of wireless charging is interoperability. The reason this is important is that, in two or three years,
when there will be more wireless-charging devices, vehicles... around, it will
be important for customers to have compatibility and for example be able to use
a new phone with the old charging pad.
If standards are reached, they will allow manufacturer's and
companies to keep working and succeed.
It is envisioned that a single specification will be
developed and will address simultaneous charging of multiple devices ranging
from very low power products to today’s most power hungry ones. That’s
why there are some groups of companies fighting to be the chosen one and
are in the race to achieve this. Main collaborations are:
- The Wireless Power Consortium: an international
cooperation of companies working together to promote the global wireless
power standard for interoperability. It was established in December 2008
and their mission was to create a wireless global charging standard called
Qi. Any Qi receiver will work with any Qi transmitter. With lost of
partners and as many certified products, the WPC is in good position to
achieve its original goal. They have more than 180 members including
industry leaders in mobile phones, consumer electronics, batteries,
semiconductors, components, wireless power technology and infrastructure
such as wireless operators, furniture and automotive parts companies. Qi
products are available in the United States, Asia Pacific, and Europe.
- Another wireless charging standard collaboration is the
Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) that appeared in 2012. It is
composed of some global wireless power and technology industry leaders and
is focusing too on a new wireless power transfer technology for consumer
electronic devices that provides spatial freedom for charging of
electrical devices in cars, on table tops and for multiple devices simultaneously.
There are more groups but WPC is probably the leader between
them. Last smartphones, such as Google Nexus 4 have already wireless charging
integrated as a built-in feature and they use the Qi technology standards.
Apart from this agreements there are also other companies
that provide other systems and are growing in importance. Let’s say that
today´s main players might fight for make their standards the one in the
industry butr there is also companies developing specific applications of
wireless power using different technologies and targeting a focus segment to
position themselves in the market.
- Probably the most important one is Witricity. The
company was founded in 2007 after a MIT project. The technology can be
applied in a wide variety of applications and environments. It is based on
strong magnetic coupling between electromagnetic resonant
objects to transfer energy wirelessly between them.
- Another company is Fulton Innovation (a division of
Alticor). Their technology, called eCoupled, provides wireless power
transfer via inductive coupling between a primary transmission
coil and a secondary receiving coil. A single primary coil can provide
power to multiple secondary coils at the same time. Elements of
eCoupled technology help to power the Qi global standard by WPC.
I could list more technologies such as WiPower support by
Qualcomm, Powermat… I am sure a "war" is about to happened.
Nowadays you can envision, more or less, who has more chances to win, but let’s
see how market reacts and how it evolves because with the global innovative
environment that the world is into, you never know! There are many CHALLENGES
ahead related with establishing a standards, the way they will offer the
products, the infrastructures needed and so forth.
Let’s see where it ends up!
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