I consider myself a smartphone super user with more than 80 apps that constantly drain juice from my battery. Every day my phone reaches critical battery level by the time I get home from the office (and spotty cellphone coverage doesn't help). I am always anxious that my battery is going to drain out and I don’t always have access to the phone charger. To try and reduce my anxiety, I’ve purchased multiple charging cables (they break too often!) and power adapters that are installed at my desk, in the car, and at home. However, it hasn’t helped to relieve my battery anxiety because I'm always forgetting to plug in my phone while at work or in the car.
At work, it is really inconvenient to keep the phone plugged in because I am back and forth between my office, the lab and meeting rooms throughout the day. Also, it is distracting and a bit annoying to have the long charging cable dangling between my work papers. Recently while upgrading my work monitor, I bought one with an integrated Qi-certified wireless charger which my team helped to design. I also bought a Qi-certified sleeve that slips on my phone.
Qi (pronounced CHEE) is an open wireless charging standard developed by the Wireless Power Consortium. When a Qi-certified receiver is placed on top of a Qi-certified charging pad, power is wirelessly transferred via resonant inductive charging. Now I leave my phone on my monitor stand while I am in my office and the phone gets charged. I pick it up and run when I have to go to a meeting (no unplugging a cable!) and place it back on the monitor stand when I come back. No more dangling wires on my desk. Now my smartphone remains fully charged by the time I reach home. This has had a significant impact in reducing my battery anxiety. Also, it improves my battery health because it doesn't go into deep discharge mode. The smaller the depth of discharge, the longer a battery will last.
I am very excited to be part of the team that is "Leading the Charge" and enabling the proliferation of Qi wireless charging. More than 25 different smartphone models have already integrated Qi wireless receivers into the phones (no need for sleeves like the one I purchased). Many infrastructure manufacturers and car manufacturers are integrating Qi wireless receivers into their products so consumers can safely and conveniently recharge by simply placing their phone in a charging area while sipping a coffee at a coffee shop, eating lunch at a restaurant, traveling on public transport, or driving a car. In the very near future, smartphone users will have access to the wireless charging ecosystem at the majority of the public places they go. Battery anxiety will be a thing of the past with ubiquitous Qi charging infrastructure.
Check out our complete portfolio of wireless power Rx and Tx solutions, reference designs and technical resources at renesas.com/wirelesspower.