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Currently, WildCharge offers adaptors only for Motorola Razr phones, but Randall says that his company will soon unveil others that work with iPods and smart phones, including the iPhone. The Razr adaptor replaces the battery cover that comes with the phone, but Randall says that future adapters will look like the rubber sleeves that many people use to protect their handhelds from scratches and other damage. "If you go to an Apple store, you'll see a whole section of protective gel or hard rubber material that usually covers the back of a device and leaves the front open," says Randall. "We have a thing just like that. Embedded into that gel are our electronics."
While the company isn't releasing the names of any partners, Randall says that it has been in talks with cell-phone manufacturers interested in learning more about integrating the technology into their phones. At the outset, says Randall, manufacturers generally have concerns about heating, electromagnetic interference, and other effects of inductive coupling. "They are the experts at testing inductive wire-free technologies because they've seen a few of them go through their labs," says Randall. But since the WildCharge pad doesn't use inductive coupling, he says, it doesn't have the associated problems.
The company has already received significant recognition for its product. It was honored as a 2008 International CES Best of Innovations Design and Engineering winner, an award presented by the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Also, Time magazine picked the WildCharge pad as one of the top innovations of 2007.
The pad definitely appeals to people's desire to disconnect from wires, says Roger Kay, the president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a technology analysis firm. "Ultimately, what it saves is having to plug the device in and some of the messiness of power cords," he says. "That's probably the biggest impact." But, Kay adds, in order for the pad to win widespread adoption, WildCharge will need to keep down the cost of its adaptors, whether they're snapped on by customers or embedded by cell-phone manufacturers. "It's got to be very cheap, so that it's a no-brainer from the user's point of view," Kay says.
Randall believes that the technology's cost is low enough to make it appealing, but he also expects that people will truly value using the WildCharge pad. He says that some early customers have already derived unexpected benefits from using it, beyond simply avoiding messy cords. For one, he says, since people tend to set their phones on the pad when they're in their houses, they don't lose track of them as often. Also, since using the pad becomes a habit, phones tend to be more fully charged when they're needed, giving the impression of lengthened battery life. And once the new adaptors arrive, travelers will need to pack up only the power pad, instead of lugging around a mass of plug-in cords, Randall says.
A new inkjet-printed technology enables a different kind of wireless connectivity between devices.
Researchers at MIT have created a revolutionary device that could remotely charge batteries and power household appliances.
The solution the the problem has been overcome in a much more elegant way by the splashpad, www.splashpower.com/ it uses inductive charging and any deivce using this needs a SplashModule™ power receiver. This thin receiver module is customized to the shape, size and power requirements of the device and can be easily integrated into the host device. This does not alter the look of the device.
I'd be interested in knowing how they intend to solve the problem of who pays for the base unit. It wouldn't be the manufacturer who isn't going to supply a product that others may use. Will the consumer pay for the base hoping that all electronic devices will incorporate the technology? Splash will have to offer rebates for a free base unit, at least, initially.
If this problem can be solved, I think this technology will beat out wildcharge.
Too bad Wildcharge can't miniaturize its product in order to make an unobtrusive, voltage-specific but otherwise universal product.
Technically charging is wired.
The pad is simply an array of wires. The receiver has 4 contacts that are placed in such a manner that at least two of them are always in physical contact with the wire stripes in the pad, no single contact in the receiver can ever touch more than one strip in the pad at a time (preventing short circuit). Furthermore the receiver must have a rectifier built in that basically routes the positive and negative voltage to the appropriate pin it the devices connector. The pad also shuts down when there is a short circuit, just like in your mains at home.
The technology is really very simple. I even came up with this idea myself more than 3 years ago , when i was 19. I went as far as developing prototypes for it, I had made a pad of 50cmx50cm and powered up my reading light with it, of course i did also a prototype for a mobile phone.
I'm happy to see that the technology in the market, but what i would really love is for it to be license free. I'm not a big fan of patents and i believe that WildCharge has gotten a patent of the technology, i hope this woun't prevent it from becoming ubiquitous.
I really don't see the usefulness of such a device. I have my phone charger near my bed and I plug it in every night. That is much smaller and just as easy to use. It's always nice to see new technologies develop but you still have to plug an adapter into the phone and then place it on the pad which is plugged into the wall. It just seems to me a very roundabout way to do the same thing with no benefits. Hopefully they will be able to develop this technology further to make it more useful.
Well a person like myself with many things that need to be recharged this would be useful.(toothbrush,cell phone,mp3 player, mouse, etc.) Instead of walking around the house to plug something in to its own adapter you could have one device that would charge them all. It would be very useful but thats not how this device works so I guess Ill be walking around the house some more....
I was at the CES Show yesterday and came across a company called Powermat (www.powermatusa.com). They have a wireless charging system that uses magnetic induction technology - you can charge up to 6 devices at the same time using one mat. You simply insert the device into a protective case and lay it on the mat and it takes the same time as the charges that are sold with the device - they have cases for about 15 different devices (cell phones, ipod) and it can even charge the laptop. It also looks real good. I read about the technology few times in the past two years but it was the first time I came across a finished product that works.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
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stradric
33 Comments
Adapter is the downfall
Being able to charge multiple devices simultaneously without individual chargers is a great idea in principle. The adapter needs work though. For one, it's ugly. People like the RAZR and the iPod because they're sleek and modern looking. Who's going to want to put an ugly, bulky charging adapter on their device? And if your answer to that is to leave the adapter by the pad, then we really haven't changed much from just having a bunch of chargers. They need to integrate the adapter with the batteries to maintain the aesthetics of these devices. Otherwise, the additional costs of adapters and the charging unit itself are not really worth it.
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deirdrebeth
25 Comments
Re: Adapter is the downfall
I'm just curious if you've seen other versions of this adapter? The one in the picture is very sleek and integrated into the phone (by replacing the battery cover per the article).
Honestly, I'd be happy to try a new battery cover on my phone (PPC) since the one it came with is very flimsy and slips off fairly easily.
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