Energous, Ossia Unveil Next-Gen Wireless Charging at MWC
Wireless charging is in the news at Mobile World Congress (see 1902250016) this week, as Energous announced a collaboration with vivo Global to explore integrating WattUp into smartphones that charge wirelessly over the air. Mark Tyndall, general manager-emerging products business group at Dialog Semiconductor, which makes Energous chips, cited vivo’s appeal to younger users and its “innovative approach to solving use pain points” such as charging.
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Also in Barcelona, Energous is demonstrating a new WattUp near-field fast charging transmitter and receiver technology that delivers 20 watts of power, with the ability to scale higher, for smartphones, tablets, drones, cordless power tools and other high-power electronics. At CES, Energous showed wireless charging for a personal sound amplification product from Delight, its first announced product, and other low-power charging systems. At MWC, it's showing a concept transmitter design charging multiple devices at a distance.
Meanwhile, Ossia said it’s working with smartphone accessories maker Spigen to build Ossia wireless charging transmitters into phone sleeves, the first direct integration of Cota technology into mobile phone accessories. Cota uses the same antenna as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to deliver power and doesn’t require coils, extra antennas or ultrasound transceivers, said the company.
The Cota Forever sleeve has a receiver that sends a beacon signal to the Cota transmitter, which sends power back in the same paths, with receiver and transmitter interacting 100 times a second to transmit power to all compatible devices within range, Ossia said. It doesn’t require direct coupling of charging coils or line of sight. Spigen plans to produce the charging sleeves in 2020. The retrofit provides smartphones with Cota Real Wireless Power via a lithium-ion battery embedded in the sleeve that receives power wirelessly and supplies it to the phone's battery when the user is away from the Cota transmitter, said Ossia.
Ossia also announced a 5.8 GHz wireless power system to address needs for continuous and "anywhere" power that it expects the 5G ecosystem to create. Cota 5.8 GHz offers increased distance and power vs. the 2.4 GHz system to accommodate more uses. "Wireless power is critical for IoT growth," said CEO Mario Obeidat, and IoT power needs will require charging technology beyond traditional power sources.