Wireless Power Consortium Pushes for "Qi" Standard

The Wireless Power Consortium (comprised of Samsung, Sanyo, Olympus, Philips, Texas Instruments, and others) has started a push towards a wireless charging standard under the moniker "Qi" (pronounced "chee"). "Members of the Wireless Power Consortium are reviewing version 0.95 of its technical specification which defines a proposed standard for charging devices, using up to 5Watts power, delivered by electromagnetic induction. The spec could evolve into a standard — and will be demonstrated by multiple vendors on September 15th to 16th. ... It is less ambitious than the system demonstrated this summer by Witricity, which operates at a distance of a few meters, using resonance, which the company claims has green benefits through replacing disposable batteries."

Comments

Re:That's boring! Wake me up

[capnchicken]

Probably as soon as all the patents held by trolls in Texas run their litigious course. See you in thirty years!

Re:Health Issues?

[cruff]

5 watts is not a lot of energy. It's not like it is an induction cook top and you are a ferrous pan or anything. :-)

Wasted technology?

[jayme0227]

Maybe I just don't understand their plan, but this seems like it would be close to a useless technology. It seems like it would be more expensive to develop and implement than a standard power cable, and you would have to set your device onto the power mat. Does it really take that much effort to grab the cable and plug it in? Also, in the case of cell phones, you wouldn't be able to use the cell phone while it's charging like most cell phones allow you to do currently. Win = Power cord.

Now, the other technology that was mentioned in the article uses electromagnetic fields. This seems like it would be incredibly inefficient as you would be beaming energy to nothing in particular in hopes that something was using it. With this technology, you wouldn't have to leave your mobile device on a mat, but you would still need to be within 2m of the source. It still seems like a traditional power cord wins.

Now, I know that Slashdot is all about advancing technology, but how do they get over these hurdles? It seems like developing a universal wired charging station would be more advantageous in the short run. What am I missing?

Re:Wasted technology?

[vertinox]

Maybe I just don't understand their plan, but this seems like it would be close to a useless technology. It seems like it would be more expensive to develop and implement than a standard power cable, and you would have to set your device onto the power mat.

The average user does not like cables.

You are just not the average user.

Re:Wasted technology?

[Anonymous Coward]

I find really interesting that devices such as my cellphone won't suffer from worn connectors that don't make really good contact and go to waste.

Some people abuse of electronic devices, as much or more than me. Wireless power will probably have its own problems, but solving the worn connector problem seems like a lot to me.

Re:Wasted technology?

[NickFortune]

I can charge ten things with one plate

Well, assuming that the standard is complete with no areas left as implementation decisions, and that they all use the same resonance frequency, and all the participants conform fully to the proposal, and that no-one decides to add some sort of proprietary encrypted handshaking protocol on the charging cycle (purely in the interests of security, of course).

Otherwise, you could well end up with ten plates to charge ten devices, which would be a bit of a step back.

The thing to remember is that in all probability, for every company which has someone championing the standard, there is also a division within that company that makes most of its money from selling overpriced replacements for proprietary cables. So it's reasonable to suppose that some people are going to work to undermine this, right from the start.

OK, tin-foil hat stuff, I know. The point I'm trying to make is let's not get too caught up in all the enthusiasm.

Re:Health Issues?

[metamatic]

Your cell phone pumps out about 4W on a regular basis, and you keep it in your pocket next to your junk.

Old News

[Anonymous Coward]

Not exactly a new idea. Tesla did it about 100 years ago.

Re: Pronounced "Chee"

[dangitman]

Anyway, why spell it "Qi" when the Chinese/Japanese language does not use the Latin script ?

Because "Qi" is sexy-looking and just begs for an elegant logo. "Chee" looks horrible and cheap.

Once again, you demonstrate why technology nerds should never be allowed to name any product or technology.

Re:Health Issues?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your cell phone pumps out about 4W on a regular basis, and you keep it in your pocket next to your junk.

No, cell phones are NOT continuously pumping out 4 watts.

You are FAR off the mark with the claim of 4W.
It is more like 0.250 watts and below for your average cell phone. In fact, there are STRINGENT FCC restrictions on how much power you can put out within 20cm of your skin. Even laptops are restricted to the sub half-watt power range for their wireless and broadband cards. Usually 100mw in your Novatel broadband card.