LG Innotek develops super-fast 15W wireless charging modules

LG Innotek, a subsidiary of LG, plans to start mass production within the year on a 15-watt wireless charging module that it says is three times faster than current five-watt wireless solutions.

mit rfid

LG's wireless charging pad.

It uses standards put out by both the World Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) and AirFuel Alliance to ensure that it will be compatible with all supported smartphones. The AirFuel Alliance is the result of the merger last year of the Alliance for Wireless Power and Power Matters Alliance (PMA).

Wireless power chargers consist of transmitter and receiver. The transmitter supplies power to the smartphone in the form of a charger pad or holding platform. Embedded in smartphones, the receiver charges the battery by generating induced current by responding to the transmitter part.

Not only is LG Innotek going after the types of chargers targeted for home and office environments, but it says it already scored a deal last year to supply its modules to a global automotive company. The 15-watt transmission module can be used on chargers installed in vehicles.

The company has supplied wireless power charger receiving modules to global smart phone manufacturers such as LG Electronics, Motorola and Kyocera starting with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Nexus 4 in 2012. Last year, it introduced 5-watt transmission modules that exceeded 70 percent charging efficiency.

Until now, shipments of wireless charging receivers were nearly all 5 Watt Qi- or PMA-certified low-frequency systems that typically rely on a charging pad; however, less than half of all receivers sold in 2020 will fall into this category, according to research firm IHS.

The mobile phone market remains the dominant market in overall shipments, led by the Samsung Galaxy smartphone series, which comes equipped with dual-mode Qi and PMA-certified low-frequency charging retained for this year's S7 model. IHS forecasts that 10 percent of smartphones shipped this year will be capable of wireless charging.

Wearables already represent the second largest wireless-charging device category, driven by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) Watch, Samsung Gear S2 and other popular products. The first high-frequency magnetic resonant receivers are also expected to launch in laptop computers in 2016 as adoption grows across the gamut of device types, according to IHS' latest report.

For more:
- see this Greenbot article
- see this press release

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