The extensive technological advancement in contemporary society has seen the immense rise in the need for more effective and efficient power sources. In essence, most of our power sources, such as batteries used in smartphones, computers, smartwatches, among other gadgets, often get depleted after a while, warranting for a new power source or constantly annoying recharging of the batteries. As such, despite wireless charging being around for centuries since the time of Nikola Tesla, it is only until recent years that scientists made remarkable breakthroughs. This essentially boosted the popularity of wireless charging, making it mainstream in just a couple of years, with contemporary society registering approximately over 200 million wireless charging system users globally.
What is Wireless Charging?
Wireless charging in simple terms implies cable-free charging. As such, electrical energy is essentially transferred from an outlet source to your phone without plugging the charging cable into the phone’s charging port. The setup usually involves a transmitting outlet and a receiver. The transmitting outlet is usually designed in the shape of a pad, bowls, or casing where you place your device appropriately. On the other hand, a receiver is usually retrofitted in the device casing or in-built within the device. Essentially, the transmitter emits the electrical energy into the immediate vicinity while the receiver captures and converts this energy into power used to operate various devices.
How Does Wireless Charging Work?
The wireless charging technique was advanced from the original Nikola Tesla’s process of resonant-inductive coupling, which he used to wirelessly power light bulbs in his laboratory. This innovation works by utilizing an electromagnetic coil, essentially a copper coil, as a magnetic loop antenna and a receiver. The antenna is usually fitted in the charging pads and used to create an electromagnetic field as electricity passes through it. They constitute the energy transmitting points. Similarly, the devices being charged also usually comes with a receiver, which is essentially another electromagnetic coil. On the other hand, these receiver coils capture the electromagnetic waves transmitted and transform them back to the electrical current used in powering up the devices.
Nonetheless, despite the effectiveness of the numerous wireless charging designs, constant problems of slow speeds and inefficiency to charge devices over long distances have often disturbed manufacturers. This prompted the battle for wireless charging standards that would be most efficient. After several years of competition among several groups, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) emerged victorious after developing the Qi standards. The Qi standards enabled much faster charging, incorporating both inductive and short-distance electromagnetic resonant inductive charging, 1.5 cm and less for maximal efficiency when using Qi wireless charger. Thus, the Qi standards unified many designers and technology giant companies, enabling multiple products and brands to work together using this technology.
In conclusion, technological advancements are inevitable, and as such, wireless charging will continually develop to perfection with time. Therefore, the use of wireless charging will essentially expand to incorporate many different sectors. For instance, these charging systems will at one time outgrow the charging distance complications and garner application in charging of larger devices like TVs, hospital equipment like pacemakers, and even cars, among others at a distance. Only time will surely tell since humans never disappoint with their level of innovations.
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