TI Wireless Charging - New Chipsets and 10W charging for Tablets
by Brian Klug on January 12, 2012 8:53 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
- TI
- Smartphones
- CES
- Mobile
- CES 2012
- wireless
- charging
This morning we stopped by TI's power management group to check out what all they had in store, and got to check out some demos of their new second generation wireless power chipsets. The new solutions meet the 5W Wireless Power Consortium (Qi) standard, and have a smaller total package area. TI demoed the BQ51013 second generation small form factor power Rx PCB charging a variety of devices, including a Kindle. In addition, TI has some newer small form factor (BQ5002010 and BQ5002011) charging Tx solutions that further reduce BOM cost and require lower input voltage compared to their first generation counterparts.
TI also briefly teased its upcoming 10W solution charging an iPad 2. Though the current standard is just 5W for smartphones (1A@5V) obviously charging tablets and larger devices is something coming down the road for the Wireless Power Consortium. At present, inductive chargers achieve around 70% efficiency.
At present, inductive chargers for smartphones generally require an external sleeve or accessory battery cover with the inductive coil and charger inside. Newer second-generation Rx solutions will drive down the size of the inductive charging solution, and inductive coils PCB (instead of hand-wound coils) will make it possible to eventually also make including wireless charging support on the boards themselves.
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mbzastava - Sunday, January 15, 2012 - link
i agree they have the corrent approach. being and electrical engineer in the MEP field, i constantly dream about how wireless energy can be transmitted throught an entire structure in the future. i imagine the main transmitting coil to be large enough to surround the entire perimiter of the structure, making hundreds of loops. then, any smaller coils that have been tuned to resonance and are within the EM field of the structure will have wireless energy. imagine not just powering your cell phones or laptops. imagine all lighting fixtures beings installed without the need for any wiring. no more outlets. no more cords for anything.michaelklachko - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
That would be pretty cool! Probably >10 years away...piroroadkill - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
You haven't used a TouchPad or a Pre have you?Touchstone makes plugging in USB over and over look ridiculous.
I also think touchstone means I use the TouchPad more often - no effort to charge, just drop it on the stand, you don't even have to line it up exactly.
Especially with battery life of smartphones being short these days, you want to charge as often as possible.
piroroadkill - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
I wish this thing had an edit button.Further to this, all phones are STILL going to have microUSB, so it's not like that choice is stolen from you.
But given the choice, I'd go with the very slick inductive charging.
brshoemak - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
I completely agree with everything said above. I use my Touchpad a lot more now that I can just grab it, use it and set it back on the Touchstone for charging. Also helps if you have cats or kids who like to tug on cables, of which I have both.It sounds like we're just lazy and bought a gimmicky product but it really does seem to change the way you use it. I do think $50 (originally $80) is a ridiculous price but I purchase mine for $30 and would do it again in an instant.
If they can reduce the bulk (which it seems they are doing) inductive charging should be standard on many portable consumer electronics. After using the Touchstone I just look at the 7 microUSB/miniUSB cables in my little cable organizer and shake my head.
wewter - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
...my pre + has had this since 2009 ... time to start having this in every cell phone on the market ... it's a must-have for me in a new pick-up. i cannot believe it's taking so long to implement ... -_-
pawzubr - Friday, January 13, 2012 - link
In the photo 14th, first on the left - is it Droid3 backcover? Holes match, pins from phone match. Any word on official launching?SJTxJason - Monday, January 30, 2012 - link
Hi just want to know why they use built-in coils on these boards