Followup: TI on efficiency and cost of wireless power for charging

I had the chance to speak with Masoud Beheshti, director of battery charge solutions in TI’s battery management solutions group, about the efficiency and cost aspects of eCoupled’s wireless power technology in portable consumer devices like cell phones or Bluetooth headsets. (TI has announced it is teaming with Fulton to develop the eCoupled technology to wirelessly charge battery-powered electronic devices.)

Beheshti said that based on their prototypes that incorporate the wireless power receivers into hand-held devices, they felt confident that they can achieve 90-95% efficiency for the wireless transfer technology. This compares with the boring-but-reliable efficiency of an electric power cord which is near-100%. On the other hand, it’s difficult to overestimate the importance of the coolness factor in sales of upper-end cell phones and handhelds. If enough customers are willing to pay a premium to be able to toss their cell phone onto a charging pad at home, office, car, or hotel, then the decrease in efficiency will not be a stumbling block.

And how much of a premium will wireless charging add to a portable device’s cost? Beheshti estimates the parts will add from 20-25% to the cost of the power components, and from 25-30% to the cost of the charger. It’s harder to come up with an estimate of the additional space that a portable device’s power “antenna” will require; Beheshti believes that figuring how to incorporate the most efficient antenna configuration in the least amount of space –perhaps the pc board– would become part of a device manufacturer’s differentiating IP.

Beheshti says we can expect to see some reference designs from TI in the next 4-6 weeks, with parts in the next 8-12 months.

I took the pictures at eCoupled’s booth at last January’s CES show in Las Vegas. The first photo is of a mock-up of an in-car charging cubby, and the other is of a functional wireless power station for the various light bulbs that surround it.