Seiko Epson, Murata team up on contactless quick charger
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 29th 2007 4:37AM
posted Sep 29th 2007 4:37AM
Not even a week after startup WiPower boasted about its breakthrough in wireless power, Murata and Seiko Epson have announced plans to "jointly development a non-contact quick charging system." Reportedly, the technology "leverages electromagnetic induction," and both the charging stand and a given mobile device would be "respectively equipped with coils that generate power." As for the production, it sounds like Seiko Epson will hone in on the "transmitting side, or primary side," while Murata "will be involved in the production of the rechargeable Li-ion." The overriding goal is to recharge a handset "in about 10 to 15 minutes in a non-contact manner," which would purportedly push power transmission efficiency from current levels of 30- to 50-percent to nearly 70-percent. Oh, and we've already been assured that these "will not generate heat."
Sounds Awesome I for one am tired of cords.
http://www.freevectors.com
A faster way to do this, rather than having to rebuy your batteries in order for this to be able to work, would to have some sort of plugin adapter, something less than 1/2" long, so that the device would sit outside of the charging tray or whatever it is and the adapter would sit on the tray, then the adapter could send the power to the existing battery without having to modify that end of it. The efficiency may decrease, but I'd bet it'd be better than wires, and the fact that you wouldn't have to have wires would be sweet. Plus it'd get the technology out that much faster, so that in the future we could buy electronics that were equipped with the correct battery technology.
Also, the former suggestion wouldn't do away with any sort of magnetic shielding that would be needed. I'm assuming that would be needed, since otherwise you'd charge your phone and lose all your data...
That is a good idea, I believe that they have already started implementing something similar at Loews Regency Hotel... http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/31/loews-regency-hotel-gets-outfitted-with-powermat-wireless-power/
That's it exactly...get me one! :D
Cool, but wake me when i can remove all wires from my PC and TV setups
The technology is old and boring. I'd hate to see a magnet shoot through a wall when you place it near one of these wireless chargers. You probably won't recieve and sms with all that electromagnetic distortion. 70% efficiency is the goal? A transformer, which this effectively sounds like, are usually 95% and up.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/24/wipower-touts-breakthrough-in-wireless-power/
More specifically, they say that, "in a laboratory environment," their system achieves an efficiency of about 68%, a number they think could eventually reach 80%. That's opposed to the median efficiency of 58% found in many corded power supplies today, some of which drop as low as 16%, according to WiPower.
95% efficient transformers are very expensive. And that's on a solid core, not just through the air. 70% efficiency, through the air, is great.
It's cool and all but I guess my dream of wireless power for a large area like a house or an office isn't going to come true in my lifetime.
I want my laptop to always be charged without being tethered to a plug or a pad.
what'd be really awesome a future version of this, but applied to something like WiMax. that way, you get the internet and "unlimited" energy without ever having to recharge. yay for the future
15 minute charging is a rather lofty claim. but power to them if they can manage it. and of course, contactless charging would pwn...my mom doesnt know how her charging plug goes in for her phone, she could use something like this.
plus, this would be great for waterproof electronics...no more forgetting to re-close the charging cover. i'd save up for a casio g'zone if they can pull this system off before the g'zone becomes an obsolete phone.
What we need is a standard charger for all batteries. No point having a wireless charging system when you need one for your phone, and then another one for your DAP, and then another one for yet another device, etc.
Bingo! We've had waterproof clippers that recharge by induction in our OR for years, so that part is hardly new. If these become more common, they will need to become standardized, just as our household A/C current is - set whatever gadget you have on top of the universal charging pad and it "just works." Otherwise, you'll have the same confusion people have with corded systems: "I plugged it in, but the charge light isn't on!" or "Why won't this one fit into the cradle?"
I think it's worth noting that for some situations, "wireless" power might not even be ideal - I end up using my cell phone while it's plugged in often, and I don't really want to hold both the phone *and* a charging cradle up to my ear.
Non contact charging technology has been used in cordless toothbrushes for many years. You have a transformer primary and core in the charger base, and the secondary plus charging circuit and batteries is in the toothbrush. When on the base, magnetic coupling allows energy to be transferred to the toothbrush without wires. The efficiency is poor however, due to the the size of the 'gap' or distance between the the transformer core and secondary winding.