Technical Editor Margery Conner's PowerSource streams the latest developments in electronic power design and related technologies. Follow Margery on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/margeryc.
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Blog
Monday, November 17, 2008
TI to team with Fulton on developing wireless power transfer control ICs
Nov 17 2008 10:51AM | Permalink |Comments (2) |
Texas Instruments announced today that it’s working with Fulton Innovation, developers of the eCoupled wireless power transfer technology, to "accelerate development of efficient wireless power solutions that can charge portable devices without traditional power cords." TI's interest in eCoupled is to provide ICs for eCoupled -powered battery charging systems for "low-, medium- and high-power applications ranging from cell phones to notebook computers to power tools and other rechargeable applications."
How does eCoupledwireless power transfer work? According to a Frost & Sullivan interview (pdf) with eCoupled published in November of 2007, “With eCoupled technology, we analyze the charge profile of the battery and transfer the optimal amount of energy in the most efficient manner. It does this by constantly changing the operating frequency to seek resonance and adjusts the power transfer respectively. Tightly coupled primary and secondary coils maximize the amount of power that is transferred.”
The eCoupled technology works over distances on the order of inches, not multiple feet. It’s probably safe to say that the efficiency goes down with as the distance increases, but on its website Fulton is not very forthcoming with information about the efficiency of eCoupled power transfer efficiency.
TI’s press release addresses power efficiency thus: “Many consumers do not realize that home electronics continue to draw electricity while the products are turned off… Fulton's eCoupled technology addresses this problem by using an advanced profiling protocol that identifies eCoupled-enabled devices to be powered. At the same time, the profiling protocol also assesses power needs and individual battery lifecycles to provide only the necessary amount of power for any given device.”
But power control electronics can power down when not in use independent of the power transfer technology used. Energy Star’s 1W-or-less power dissipation in standby mode could be even lower than 1W, but cost trade-offs make 1W-standby power a practical first-step goal. Greater power savings would mean more expensive control electronics, and consumers are pretty cost resistant.
As always when considering new power technologies, the main questions center on: Efficiency? And Price?
Related entries in: Power Sources/Controllers |
Reader Comments
at 11/17/2008 12:24:00 PM, Meredith Poor said:
“Power tools” in this context might also mean robots. For purposes of discussion, I have a fleet of outdoor robots that perform various errands, such as pulling weeds, carrying the garbage cans to the curb, mowing the lawn, etc. These robots are housed in a shelter outside the house, and are only brought inside to be repaired.
~~~
One thing I would want to avoid is a plug with exposed conductors given the hostility of the environment. Furthermore, a ‘recharging station’ may not be limited to the shelter, I might situate these under sidewalks, patios, or other improvements. In such circumstances the robot would never be far from a power source, which would affect my admixture of batteries, vehicle frames, execution scripts, etc. These might also act as navigational markers given their ability to restore coordinate contexts that may have drifted as the robot putters around in the yard.
~~~
Depending on the capacity of the charging system it also makes it possible to separate the high-drain battery packs from the electro-mechanical assembly. If my weed pulling robot gets into a serious thicket, it can ask for ‘help’. A power-assist unit can dock with it to augment the power available within the robot. Under such circumstances a robot that is too drained to return to a docking station or needs to draw on reserves that it can’t afford to carry around has an alternative option.
~~~
This creates ability to manage and balance batteries, service areas, localized power distribution, and production schedules. The ‘brains and brawn’ of a complex electro-mechanical assembly are separated from the ‘fuel’, such that ten separate robots might share three high-drain power sources among them.
~~~
One can see the potential for an explosion of interesting products as this technology is made available.
at 11/17/2008 3:42:10 PM, cost_efficiency said:
Good luck in creating a standard for the charger. Imagine how much can we save if we could standardize the corded chargers to use micro-B USB connector only.
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