In a typical day of working and traveling, millions of wireless devices are used, seen, bought, and sold. All of these products share one thing in common: their innate ability to consume and engulf batteries and power from outlets. The sheer amount of environmental pollution and waste created by the use of disposable batteries and dead chargeable batteries is enormous, not to mention the average cost of replacing and charging those batteries.
Along with the cost is the huge inconvenience of having a device lose power from lack of battery charging or actual battery inoperability. There are several ways to fix this problem, the most straightforward one being to create longer-lasting batteries that have less of an environmental impact. But now, four companies are poised to take the battery market into a new era: wireless charging and power. Read on for a preview of Wildcharge, Powercast, eCoupled, and Splashpower, all of which have their own respective method of providing power on-the-go.
Wildcharge
Wildcharge, a company that showcased its product at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show, has announced the name of their first two models within their product line. The company was formed in 2005 with the plan to create a tremendous step into the future of batteries: wireless charging devices capable of powering and refueling the batteries inside most of the smaller devices that consumers use today, such as cell-phones, hand-held video games, PDAs, laptops, PTAs (Personal Travel Assistants), iPods, MP3 players, cameras, and basically anything else that holds a battery.
With the announcement of their mission-statement at this year’s CES, Wildcharge has now presented to the public the consumer world’s first two models in the field of wireless charging solutions: The WildCharger and the WildCharger-Mini. In terms of actual usage, Wildcharge’s web site claims that “the WildCharger pad delivers up to 90W of power, enough to simultaneously charge and power most laptops and small devices. The Mini delivers up to 15W of power, ample power for simultaneously charging 3-5 small devices such as cell phones, smart phones, portable music players and many others.”
Basically, the Wildcharger is a pad that devices can plug into, much like a few existing devices already on the market. The catch is that the 90W version is a step forward in the actual wattage capacity that current devices of the same function feature. Also, due in part to the large amount of commercial and consumer interest received at CES 2007, Wildcharge, Inc plans to sell both the Wildcharger and the Wildcharger-Mini sometime before or during the summer of 2007.
Powercast
Of course, Wildcharge isn’t the only company jumping into the world of wireless charging solutions. Another interesting product comes from the brand-new startup Powercast, who plans to have wireless charging devices by 2008. The technology behind their model is a lot different- and really interesting. Powercast’s main method of transferring power from one device to another is through radio frequencies, (the company’s technology overview analogizes the function with a radio tower, where the closer the receiver is to the transmitter, the better the quality of the transmission).
With the use of the Powercast Wireless Power Platform Transmitter Module and Wireless Power Platform Receiver Module, consumers can create an over-the-air network of charging transmissions that will power their devices and gradually charge them as well. The Receiver Module can be added to the power circuit of most devices, which may help modders and custom builders power all sorts of homemade technology.
Along with the benefits of transmittable power, the ability to design smaller form factors due to unneeded battery space, the simplification of AC adapters, the positive environmental and financial aspects of less battery usage (like in the Wiimotes), and the potential to use this technology in consumer, industrial, medical, and military applications makes the Powercast seem like the clear winner.
eCoupled
While the Powercast brand aims to take over the entire market, another group already ahead of the competition, the Fulton Innovation-owned technology eCoupled, plans to attract clients who wish to charge devices by means of inductive coupling. As their web site technology description puts it: “Power can now join the wireless revolution.”
But how does eCoupled expect to revolutionize power? With the use of inductive coupling, (the transfer of energy from one circuit component to another through a shared magnetic field [Wiki]), power is transferred from a transmission device that is dynamically seeking resonance through the eCoupled power circuit technology into a portable device such as a cell-phone (i.e. the transmitter emits a signal that seeks to match the signature of a eCoupled capable device).
With little or no interference with RF, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g networks, or keyless entry systems, the eCoupled technology can be integrated with current transmission standards with very little device conflict. The Powercast, on the other hand, operates at 905 MHz, which may cause trouble with household items (like older cordless telephones).
As far as the capabilities go, the eCoupled can currently transfer power at a rate of 3.3 Mbps with its 10.7MHz components, and the product can be redesigned to reach speeds of 10 Mbps (or even the theoretical limit of 200 Mbps). With applications in consumer markets such as homes, automotive devices, entertainment, lighting, appliances, toys, computers, and tools, the eCoupled circuitry can just as easily take control of the battery market as the Powercast can. Since the implementation of eCoupled technology has been around since 2000, when Alticor’s eSpring water treatment systems began using the standard in their million-selling devices, the eCoupled brand already has an early start, and their are plans to provide further support of more products (like iPods, cell-phones, and PDA’s) sometime in 2007.
Splashpower
The final company that has a substantial chance of taking the largest share of the wireless charging and power market is Splashpower. Using the same technology as eCoupled (and calling it electromagnetic induction), any device with a SplashModule can communicate and receive power from a SplashPad, and the company already has models that support iPods, cameras, PDAs, camcorders and several cell-phones from Nokia, as well as plans to include many more companies and products.
[photo from Macworld]
This is essentially the same device as the eCoupled, the only noticeable difference is the visual appeal, which is much more stylized. The actual product has been shown publicly for a couple of years, and the consumer knowledge of this technology is slowly developing. Either way, since eCoupled and Splashpower have an early advantage in the wireless power market, Wildcharge and Powercast will have to advertise and educate consumers on their products if they want to succeed.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Wow.
That PowerCast technology is a freaking revolution. Who cares about those other methods of charging. They’re practically the same as plugging your stuff in anyway.
I mean, I could be playing the Wii, 360, or PS3 and NEVER have to recharge batteries. Not to mention every time I sit down in my room, my cell phone could be charging.
I mean, is this stuff even REAL?! It’s close to April Fools Day, was that site started on April 1st? The implications of this technology are rediculously huge. Someone here should make a post specifically about PowerCast, otherwise it might get lost behind the jump.
May 6th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
No Joke.
I am finishing up a Final Paper in my media predictions class on Powercast. It is definetly going to revolutionize the way we charge small devices. The only problems are going to be in the beginning. But here are some: The transmitter can only power things up to 1 meter away. The power harvest rate is only 50-70% effective, and it can only power a dead cell phone battery halfway over night. Also, the release date is the end of 2008 for most of the cool things. (A wireless lamp is coming out at the end of 2007, whoop ti friggen doo.)
I say the problems are only going to be in the beginning, because Powercast has already partnered up with electronics giant Philips, along with at least 100 other companies that make MP3s, Controllers, Keyboards, Mice, small appliances etc. Since they have so many partners already, I think this thing is going to be huge, and there are going to be as many wireless transmitters as there are electrical sockets (I coined this please don’t steal it -Alex Kenemer 2007) which means that every device on your person is going to be charging at a near constant rate, which takes away the problem of the weak power harvest. When this hits and gets popular, devices simply will not ever run out of energy unless you are stuck out in the middle of a field somewhere.
Get excited, this is going to be huge. I’m going to buy stock when Powercast Co finally hits the market.
October 12th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Here is a good site explaing how it works.
http://www.powercasttechnology.com