In sports safety, a remarkable collaboration has emerged between two innovative entities. Prevent Biometrics, a pioneer in head impact monitoring technology, and Renesas Electronics, a leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, have joined forces to revolutionize athlete safety.
Prevent Biometrics has developed a unique mouthguard technology, independently validated as the world’s most effective for monitoring head impacts. The company’s mission is to protect every athlete’s brain, regardless of the level of sport they participate in. However, to make this technology accessible and user-friendly, they faced a significant challenge: developing a wireless charging solution for their mouthguards.
These mouthguards, worn by athletes from youth to professional levels, come in a variety of shapes and sizes. This diversity posed a unique challenge, as the listener coil embedded inside each mouthguard is oriented uniquely for each athlete.
Jason Thibado, Director of Engineering at Prevent Biometrics, highlights the solution: “The PTX130W wireless charging system is a game-changer for applications that require greater flexibility in the distance and alignment of the charging coils. This allows us to wirelessly charge mouthguards of all shapes and sizes.”
Prevent Biometrics chose to partner with Renesas Electronics due to several key factors.
- The cost-effectiveness (reduced BOM cost) of the initial system design with an Integrated NFC tag, rectifier, battery charger and LDO into a single chip on the listener side.
- The volume of charge coverage, the highly configurable firmware, and the well-documented design resources. The PTX130W, along with the Renesas microcontroller, has been used in Prevent Biometrics’ last three hardware platforms, enabling them to create a custom NFC wireless charging solution specific to their needs.
- Reduced PCB footprint as Renesas PCB and listener coil (10x10mm) is very small to fit comfortably inside a mouth guard.
Renesas components form the core of their charging and power circuitry. On the Poller (charger board) side, a Renesas MCU controls the system and the PTX130W handles NFC charge negotiation and control. On the listener (mouth guard) side, the PTX30W serves as the sole PMIC, supplying the system with power, not just charging.
This collaboration has enabled Prevent Biometrics to support charging for every athlete on the planet, regardless of the shape of their mouthguard. Moreover, the Renesas team has gone the extra mile to assist them. When Prevent was racing to finish CE certification for a critical deadline to support World Rugby, Renesas engineers went above and beyond to assist in the tuning and emissions process.
This partnership stands as a testament to the power of collaboration in driving innovation and progress in sports safety.