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Wireless Charging Tech Adopted By Ford, Chrysler, and Toyota Goes Open Source
An anonymous reader writes: The in-vehicle wireless charging technology adopted by Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, RAM, and Toyota has been released to the public domain without royalties or licenses. This technology that you probably never heard of before is in 12 vehicles; more vehicles than all the other wireless charging standards combined. The open standard web page shows schematics, app notes, and certification information to get companies to make compatible wireless charging products.
This is not exactly wireless... It is not "hard wired' in that you don't plug in a cable. The technology uses a system of electric strips of alternating polarity and a pattern of contact pickups on the device to connect to the strips. It is cool, and should be much better than wireless in terms of efficiency.
It's essentially a tweaked version of a portable phone charger. But instead of two contacts in the caddy/base station, there are a series of points arranged so it can be placed in any position. Still plenty of chances for shorting.
"Safety – No electromagnetic fields are used. Zero risk of cancer claimed." -- Metal contacts will do that
"High Power – The technology can deliver up to 160 Watts" -- It could do more or less depending on how the manufacturer designs it
"Power Diversity – High and low power devices can operate side-by-side on a pad" -- This is a function of the thing being charged.
"Bulk Charging – A pad will charge as many devices as will fit on its surface" -- Well done. They've learned about parallel circuits.
"High Efficiency – Efficiency is nearly 100%" -- touching the contacts togeth/er will do that
"Low Cost – The technology is inherently low-cost." -- What about reliability