Panthronics announces worldwide sampling of single-chip PTX30W solution for NFC wireless battery charging

Graz, Austria – Panthronics AG, a fabless semiconductor company specializing in high performance wireless technology, today announced the worldwide launch of its PTX30W, the industry’s only integrated, single-chip solution for the listener circuit in NFC wireless charging systems.

The PTX30W, which is supplied in a compact 3.2mm² WL-CSP package, enables manufacturers of small battery-powered products to implement NFC wireless charging with a board which is around four times smaller than existing designs based on multiple discrete components.

The PTX30W, an integrated solution, is also easier to implement than a circuit made of multiple discrete components. The fully autonomous PTX30W runs an NFC Forum-derived wireless charging protocol which supports power negotiation. This means that the PTX30W can operate in stand-alone mode with no need for an external microcontroller to run NFC wireless charging operations.

Paired with an NFC poller such as the Panthronics PTX130W in the charging cradle, the PTX30W can supply as much as 1W to charge the li-ion battery in products such as fitness trackers, smart watches, earbuds, hearing aids, smart glasses, smart rings, styluses and medical sensors. Both the PTX30W and PTX130W are supported by a software development kit (SDK) to accelerate integration into end product designs.

The PTX30W will be available for demonstrations at the Panthronics suite during the CES 2023 exhibition (5-8 January, Las Vegas, US). Contact Panthronics to arrange an appointment for a demonstration.

The PTX30W is also available now for sampling. Volume production orders will start shipping in Q2 2023. Comprehensive technical support and guidance are available online via the Panthronics customer portal.

Optimized power performance

The PTX30W combines an efficient rectifier, NFC tag, battery charger and power management as well as protocol handling. The NFC tag supports bidirectional data communication in NFC Type A mode. This enables the transfer of data between the charging cradle and the charged device, such as the battery’s state of charge or fault indicators, as well as enabling firmware upgrades of both devices.

The device’s power management unit supplies the chip from RF power when available, or from the battery when not. A sophisticated battery charger circuit in the PTX30W regulates the input voltage from the antenna to match the voltage profile of the constant current/constant voltage charge supplied to the li-ion battery. This minimizes power losses in the charger, easing thermal management in sealed, space-constrained enclosures.

Mark Dickson, Chief Marketing Officer of Panthronics, said: ‘The introduction of the ultra-compact PTX30W opens up new opportunities for consumer device manufacturers to replace wired charger connections with a tiny NFC wireless charging circuit, even in devices as small as earbuds and smart rings. And by using the PTX30W, OEMs also benefit from NFC communication alongside charging capability, to enable battery status reporting and firmware upgrades.’

More information about the PTX30W listener and PTX130W poller may be found at www.panthronics.com.

About Panthronics

Founded in 2014, Panthronics AG (PTX) is an established semiconductor product company with over 50 staff headquartered in Graz, Austria. It develops differentiated wireless solutions from the ground up for security and power applications. Panthronics’ website is at www.panthronics.com.

The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.