Monday, January 19, 2009

Powermat - The Future Of Wireless Power

Devices running out of battery quickly is frustrating, but the latest breed of chargers found at this year's Consumer Electronics Show aim to make life a little easier. One such device is Powermat - this portable mat or tray allows energy to be consumed wirelessly.
Powermat technology brings safe, simple, and efficient wireless electricity to surfaces including walls, tables, floors and desktops. It is designed to replace the need to access multiple electrical sockets with the flexibility and freedom of wireless power for real-time powering and charging of electronic devices of almost any kind in almost any environment. Powermat technology revolutionizes the way energy is consumed in the every day course of interaction with our environment.

It uses magnetic induction to transfer power through dongles or special sleeves that need to be slipped onto gadgets.
Tiny radio transmitters in the sleeves or dongles tell the mat what it is charging.
The power management system on Powermat means a low-powered mobile device and a bigger consumer like a laptop can be recharged from the same plug.
Wireless power has been around for many years but it has traditionally suffered from poor efficiency.

Despite these innovations, battery technology itself has failed to keep pace with rates of development in other tech such as processors, GPS, or touch screens.
Natali del Conte from the technology news and entertainment website CNET said batteries for mobile devices need to improve.

"We see internal memory get larger, the devices get smaller and the displays have higher resolution, but we still have battery life as a problem," said Ms del Conte.

The Powermat is a two part offering that includes:

  1. The mat: the thinly layered mat is designed to be overlaid on any work or home surface. Several mat configurations are available, supporting up to 4 devices simultaneously.
  2. The receiver: the receiver is embedded within any of the form-fitting covers that fit snugly over an array of electronic devices, including: cellular phones, Blackberrys, GPS systems or music players.

No comments:

Post a Comment