Energous, , uBeam and WiTricity from the USA are on the way to offer consumer products of Wireless Router capable to send power to charge your mobile.
Computerworld have made a long research about what these 3 companies have on track for this new technology, that could come up available for consumers in 2015.
Lets`take a read of each way of transfering power wireless, by Company:
Energous from California:
Rizzone, CEO of Energous, is pitching a wireless charging technology called
WattUp that can send power in a 15-ft. radius using radio frequency
transmissions.
The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company, which raised
nearly $25 million when
it went public this year, plans to have
consumer products out by Thanksgiving 2015.
So what is it?
The WattUp transmitter works much like a wireless
router, sending radio frequency signals that can be received by enabled mobile
devices, such as wearables and mobile phones. A small RF antenna in the form of
PCB board, an ASIC and software make up the wireless power receivers.
The Bluetooth wireless communication specification is
used between WattUp transmitters and receivers.
Because the amount of wattage WattUp can send is
limited, Energous is focused on powering small mobile devices rather than
laptops or batteries that require higher capacities.
A single WattUp transmitter can charge up to 24
devices, all under software control that enables or disables charging. The
maximum amount of power -- 4 watts -- can only be delivered to four devices
simultaneously. So as more enabled and "authorized" devices enter a
room, the charge to each device is reduced.
Also, as the distance between transmitter and receiver
becomes greater, the power transfer dissipates. For example, a WattUp
transmitter can stream 4 watts within a 5-ft. radius. At a range of 5 to 10
feet, that power drops to 2 watts per device; at 10 to 15 feet, the router puts
out 1 watt per device (4 watts total).
George Holmes, vice president of sales and
marketing at Energous, said that within 5 feet a mobile device can be charged
at the same rate as if it were plugged into a wall socket.
WattUp's RF transmission, which operates at 5.7MHz and 5.8MHz, is
referred to in the industry as "far-field" wireless charging.
Energous is not the first company to come up with the idea.
Startup uBeam landed $750,000 in
seed funding for technology that uses ultrasound waves to transmit electricity
to mobile devices. The specifics may differ, but the principle is similar to
the approach Energous has taken, according to Ryan Sanderson, an analyst at
IHS.
Wireless charging over distance is nothing new, but most other
technologies use magnetic resonance to achieve power transfers at relatively
short distances. For example, WiTricity
has been licensing its charging technology for use in appliances
and the automotive industry.
WiTricity's technology can transmit power between two copper coils that
form a magnetic field. But distances from hand-size transmitters have typically
been limited to a foot or so. Devices called "repeaters" can extend
that distance, but generally speaking, the larger the coil, the longer the
distance.
Sanderson does not consider WiTricity's technology far-field charging.
"Magnetic resonance is near-field wireless charging, no matter how you
spin it," he said.
Loosely coupled magnetic resonance technology, offered by Duracell and
other manufacturers, enables wireless charging pads that can power up multiple
devices at the same time -- as long as they're all placed on the charging
surface. That, Sanderson said, is the main problem with magnetic resonance
wireless charging: You have to put your mobile device down somewhere in order
to charge them.
"Those technologies really don't support the notion of
mobility," Holmes said. "Mobility is the idea of walking around an
office or home and having your device charge passively rather than actively.
"We're not wireless but wire-free," he added.
Nick Spencer, a senior director at ABI Research, said the primary
concern government regulators will likely have with wireless charging technology
is that it could potentially waste electricity. On average, 40% of the
electricity sent from a utility's grid into a home is wasted as it moves
through various transformers. That loss is greater with wireless charging
systems.
Most magnetic resonance wireless charging devices have an efficiency
rating of between and 80% and 90%, meaning up to 20% of the electricity is lost
in transmission.
Still, Sanderson and Spencer believe Energous' WattUp technology has
massive potential.
Big
market appeal
Technology like WiTricity's is already expected to make up the lion's
share of the market someday, because it's relatively easy to use.
According to Pike Research, the revenue worldwide from wireless power
devices will exceed $15 billion by 2020, and systems based on highly resonant
magnetic wireless power transfer will account for more than 80% of the overall
market.
"I see huge potential for [Energous' technology] as long as it can
be proven to work," Sanderson said. "We're seeing a huge increase in
wearables. And the key thing about wearables is that if you have to take them
off every day, it becomes a pain. From a consumer point of view, that will be
the one thing that makes or breaks that industry."
According to a recent study by IHS, 69% of
consumers still don't know or understand what wireless charging is. When people
think of "wireless," they don't picture the charging pads of today
that use magnetic resonance technology.
"What they often conjure up in their minds is a system like
Wi-Fi," Sanderson said.
That same IHS study revealed that 78% of consumers would purchase a
wireless charging accessory and 38% would pay to charge their mobile devices
wirelessly in a public place.
Product
partnerships
Energous has been securing partnerships with Tier 2 suppliers, the
companies that sell parts to big manufacturers like automobile and smartphone makers.
For example, Energous is working with Dialog Semiconductor, a German
company that makes integrated circuits for audio and display processing used
mainly in mobile phones and the automotive industry. Japan-based Dong-Hwa, one
of the world's largest mobile equipment suppliers, is also working to embed
WattUp wire-free charging receivers in smartphone cases
Energous has also partnered with rechargeable battery makers such as
Highpower International, and is developing reference designs for WattUp-enabled
batteries. Holmes sees a day when common objects in a house will
have WattUp wireless charging routers embedded in them -- everything from
refrigerators, televisions and even picture frames. The company is also working
on a smaller charger (less than a 1-watt charge) that people could place on
nightstands to charge wearables as they sleep without having to take them off.
"We decided to go after the low-hanging fruit first. The quickest
way to get visibility to the consumer is through enabling battery packs and
wearables," Rizzone said.
While Energous has created prototype wireless power routers and
receivers, it doesn't plan on selling hardware. Like other wireless power
companies, it is licensing its intellectual property for other companies to
build into products.
The company plans to demonstrate the first iteration of its product and
enabled mobile devices at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas in January.
"With our solution, you can continue to wear your device 24/7. Your
watch will be topped off at night, and that's a significant difference from
what Apple offered with its watch this week," Rizzone said.
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