How Wireless Charging Works, According to a Former Nokia R&D Director | WSJ Tech Behind
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- Опубликовано: 12 июн 2024
- Wireless charging is based on induction, a field that’s seeing rapid innovation. Now, as the universal wireless charging standard makes its first generational update, Qi2 will bring Apple, Samsung and other smartphones to the same universal charging standard. This will create more efficiency and help pave the way for a range of innovations for devices and accessories beyond cell phones.
WSJ explores the tech behind wireless charging and looks at where it is heading in the future.
Chapters:
0:00 Wireless charging
0:41 How the tech works
3:01 How the tech originated
4:16 Where the tech is going
'The Tech Behind' explores the amazing engineering, computing, science and algorithms that power our favorite tech.
#Charging #Tech #WSJ
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I suppose it'd be nice to see public wireless charging for small devices. Plugging into a public USB cable is always sketchy.
In Singapore Changi airport there are power outlets that lets you straight charge ur phone from the power socket or the USB port. They are safe to use
I've charged my phone in public places. No problem for me.
@@ClaraFlater_than_surface_boardit's unsafe. There are ways to hack the cable or power adapter and put virus in your phone
@@Sam-sddu483 unsafe? Have you seen our Changi airport? It is the world's best airport not for nothing
@@estiennetaylor1260not yet...
Make so much sense and sensibility.
A solution that only causes greater electricity consumption due to its greater inefficiency in energy transmission than if the cell phone were connected directly by cable.
The heat also causes the battery to lose it's capacity quicker. That's why I hope that these don't see wide adoption for charging phones. They only have a couple small upsides like not having to plug in a cable and possibly higher device security when charging in public (when you don't have a power only cable).
@@lolo_o4309 The advantages are generally only aids for lazy people who don't even want to connect a cable.
@@Cier433 not entirely, all ports have life spans: you can only plug and unplug so many times before the port wears out. Now type C is fairly high (around 10k vs usb a which was only 1.5k). But still, I use my phone a lot for work and am constantly re-charging it. But I use a magnetic, quick disconnect cable, with a dongle that stays plugged into my phone. This gets the benefits of a cable with the ease of disconnecting as a wireless charger.
Well that's my takeaway from this as well. Plus, call me stupid, but I don't understand how it can be called wireless charging when the charger itself must be plugged into an outlet. If we were doing away entirely with external electricity sources to charge these batteries, then I'd see an advantage. This just seems like an unnecessarily high-consumption interface for an already existing electrical system. I don't get it.
@@riohibler2345 If we take into account that the wireless charging base must be on at all times to detect when the smartphone is placed and starts charging, it only adds more waste in addition to its inefficiency in energy transmission.
Good to know. Will look out for 2.0 products
What is the efficiency of the power transfer for Qi charger and for the high power wireless power transfer devices? I assume 70-80% is a quite real number.
It's much lower than for wired charging, iFixit has a very recent video about that
I would guess around 20-30% compared to a wired charger. That is based on my experience as an electronics power designer. Of course if you're only talking about the 15W it takes to charge your phone or earbuds, it doesn't matter much. Using it to boil water in a kettle seems foolish.
@@kenmore01 The efficiency to boil water is a lot higher compared to charging a device obviously. Induction stoves are a lot more efficient as they induce most of the energy into the pan directly. The "lost" energy becomes heat which isn't a big problem when heating something. So I wouldn't say it's foolish to heat with it but it is wildly inefficient to charge a device compared to a conventional cable.
@@lolo_o4309 What you said is very true. Induction cooking is tolerable because the alternatives of burning gas or putting a pot into a coil are also inefficient with much heat lost to the air around the pot. Charging a phone by using a magnetic field is very inefficient compared to a wire connecting it directly. Back to the water heating scenario though, if I put a heating element in the water a la a deep fryer with a heating element in the oil, that's much more efficient than Eddy current heating. Comparing it to a heating element attached to a water vessel, it's probably not so bad. It's all relative. The difference is efficiency gained at 1800W is a lot more noticable than efficiency gained at 15 or even 100W.
How much more power does it take to wirelessly charge something?
Thanks for the informative video.. This is what we need more on youtube.
Wait- You're able to watch all of the decent informational videos before new ones appear? What's your secret? 😉
It's a mini induction burner!
Wires are cool, literally! Much more efficient (not to mention cheaper). With a $5 silicone stand, you have a dock too!
Cords are more efficient unlike wasted electricity through wireless.
Phones don't die because of broken connectors, they die because of non replaceable batteries. We don't need wireless charging, we need replaceable batteries for devices that would otherwise work fine for 20+ yrs. You don't solve broken connectors with wireless charging you solve it with a proper connector, which USB-C is.
Good point
A phone will never "otherwise work for 20 years" if you could more easily change the battery. That's delusional. I changed the battery in my Galaxy S7 three times over it's lifetime of 8 years. It's so slow that it takes almost 2 minutes just to open google maps now. That's the end of its life. I got a new S24 last month. Software demands on processors always increases. Features and capabilities of software and OS updates moves on. Phones will no more ever last 20 years of USABLE life than a home desktop pc will. People are so clueless about how technology actually works. They live in a fantasyland of "planned obsolescence" conspiracies and infinite product lifetime futures.
a 10year old phone cannot communicate with the internet due to old software
lol, There are lot of bad wireless chargers. Some of them making your batter way too warm (above 40c'). I like the idea of it, but hopefully QI2 fixes a lot problems with the original Qi chargers.
Where are the Qi2 Android phones ?!?!?!?
Qi2 doesn't solve anything that Qi1 has plagued.
The only difference in Qi2 charging is magnetic. I refuse to use since all the loyalty is going to crapple as a result.
@@estiennetaylor1260 Qi2 has many more differences, did you even bother to look or do you just love bsing?
@@paani3327 Will it be so breakthrough that consumers will upgrade? I don't think so just for magnets LOL.
@@estiennetaylor1260 come on man, you never mentioned breakthrough dude. You said Qi2 doesn’t solve anything, which is simply wrong. Also it’s not just magnets, like I said…..
Hygiene, accessibility and waterproofing, etc. What other advantages could there be?
this is SO cool
is making holes for charging ports in phones that expensive that wireless charging is required?
I learnt something technical on WSJ!
Well done... Shocked Geek
If it's anything like the evolution of Unreal Engine, then Qi 9.0 means UNLIMITED POWAAAAA ⚡⚡⚡
I wonder if the Ki technology at the end works through other countertop materials like quartz or marble instead of just wood
No mention of power loss vs cabled charging. Start buying carbon offsets for your convenience.
Cool
Been using my old Nokia charging pads all these years to charge my android phones (currently my zFold4)
Glad to hear they'll be coming out with new faster chargers safely ❤❤❤
The Palm Pre had wireless charging back in 2009.
Palm was indeed on the forefront. I still miss those devices.
I’ve been saying this for 10 years - can we stop calling them wireless chargers? They are induction chargers, just like the cooktop that was mentioned. When they figure out how to charge your phone in your pocket when you walk into a room, that will be wireless.
It's corporate propaganda (marketing) to sell them.
the phone and charger coils are basically a transformer when they come within close proximity of each other
My thought as well.
1:06 It is not wireless.
The last time I tried it, it couldn't deal with 2mm of plastic phone case. That was the end of that.
Works very well through a case now, even a thick otter box. Won’t work with a pop socket or other accessory though.
Ngl. The wireless kettle got me more excited than qi2
Samsung and Wacom need to figure out to work with this better to be able to implement Qi2 in their phones, including ultra phones with s pens. Need a way to not have the different magnetic fields from interfering with one another.
Exactly. I hope I'm wrong, but I think it'll be a longer wait for that S-pen/Magsafe compatibility. I look for news on this regularly for the upcoming S25 Ultra and haven't heard a thing.
💚
I will be using my own type c charger with me at all times. There is no way I'm using a wireless charger lol. Makes your phone even more useless because it has to be aligned on 1 spot, I use my phone as I'm charging it sometimes.
and cords are more energy efficient compare to wasted power through wireless.
My Xiaomi is capable of 50W wireless. Never had an issue
Aaaaaaaaaah! *Radiations* Again ☢️
It is not just slower - it is incredibly more inefficient. It is a good way to be spending more money and not know it. Just like CrApple likes it!
The most amazing thing is that apple managed to patent aligning elements by magnets. Like.. seriously? Patent system degraded to "Who first called out the obvious"?
You should see the MTB industry for pathetic patents.
Nokia, timeless in more ways than just the designs.
I absolutely don't use the term "wireless charging" because it's a bit inaccurate. You still need a wire for the charging pad. A more appropriate and accurate name is exactly what it is, it's called inductive charging. Wireless charging is seriously just a marketing gimmick. I only refer to it as inductive charging.
It’s not wireless if it’s still attached to a wire, no?
Do you transport and make phone calls with the charging pad ?! 🤨
Wondering if this could possibly be the answer for Electric vehicles in the future: go on a platform and charge
Thought provoking observation👍
there are several places where they are testing a road with build in induction/wireless charging tech.
so while you drive your electric car on those types of roads the car get more power back into it than it uses to go forward, so the car is charging while driving.
but they have a lot to figure out before those "charging roads" become a reality in the real world.
for example:
- the need to find a way to drastically reduce the costs of all the tech they have to put into those roads. they are significantly more expensive than normal roads.
- they need to find a way to make it more efficient. to much electricity gets lost between the road and the battery of the car.
- they have to decide on a universal way to build them. so every electric car can use a "charging road" everywhere in the world.
- they need to decide on what roads could/would be turned into "charging roads", because it's unfeasible to turn all road into those. (maybe only highways)
@@ChristiaanHW
As a Mechanical Engineer, can't wait for these tech to be figure out in time , some Swedish tech companies have started making some breakthroughs in road charging platforms.
@@ChristiaanHW@ChristiaanHW That's an interesting point you brought up. I know a small town in Michigan that's working with entrepreneurs and companies to build that kind of future
Why no one do magsafe cookware yet?
1. The energy lost, is lost as heat so it doesn't matter that much.
2. Magnets break under heat and while cooking there is a lot of it.
3. You are not aligning a coil you are aligning a flat metal plate which is easier to do.
Loving this tech unity, keep innovating! 🌐
I want a wireless bidirectional charger for my EV. My cars have large idle battery packs for most of the day. I love to put it to better use for my home or the grid. The industry needs these kinds of standards to do this.
Some EVs support this using the charging port. You really don't want it to be wireless, at least at home. It's wildly inefficient.
You would lose tens of kilowatts a day having wireless charging for cars. It will always be slower and more inefficient than wired charging until the end of the universe.
They need to do this for the power grid
It's very inefficient. They really don't need to do this.
@@spacetoast7783 the us has one of the nist efficient power grids
@@Rani_-jd9ub ?????????
We already have wireless power converters deployed at your location.
It’s called a transformer. It existed before you were born.
It still has a wire for you know charging which means
Not wireless.
Can it wirelessly charge a Tesla?
I used a wireless charger for a week or so. It beeps when the charge level is complete. If you leave it on the charger, and it is on, then it discharges a bit and the charger kicks on again. And after a short charge to bring the phone back up to %100, it... beeps. And it does this again. And again. And again. In fact ALL NIGHT. Since I charge the phone on the dresser next to me while I sleep, this is a problem. The charger lives in a bottom drawer now, gathering dust. Obviously the person who designed the thing NEVER ACTUALLY USED IT THEMSELVES.
Yeah, I hate it when I buy the wrong, well, anything. 😏
Electric cars would be great... The cables are really big and heavy inside your car and take lots of space inside a tiny car.
But why Qi??? Because "Qi" (氣) sounds and means EXACTLY as in "Air."
qi can also mean power or inner force or something like that in chinese
Chinese companies have had 50,60, and even 80 watt wireless charging for years now. This should have been figured out here a decade ago.
Right….sure those worked with consumer safety….right
Never really happened to kick... 10yrs+ buzzy word...
The video doesn't answer the question properly. These strong EM waves can interfere with high speed electronics and RF transmission lines inside. There is a good amount of engineering to stop that too.
"that won't be released until 2025"? My Xiaomi charges 50w wirelessly for 3 years now 🤔
Hopefully it won’t catch fire
Uses 5x power
Meanwhile electric toothbrushes... XD looong back
Feel like this video is about 5-10 years too late, as its ubiquitous now days
Wireless charging is the future. Imagine having your laptop and other appliances go around without any wires. OCD heaven
I wrote an article a while ago integrating wireless charging, drones, machine learning and police.
Convenience Vs Efficiency
Too big to fail corporations has reduced competition, lobbying has made corruption legal and politicians more and more accountable to corporations than the well-being of its citizens
There's a MUCH SAFER TECHNOLOGIES.
Yes, and…? 🤔
Comms channel between charger and reciever .. ? CIA tapped into it already and listening to ur phone while it be charging.
Edit : okay, surveillance angle confirmed.
When you realise Apple actually innovated some good stuff but we take it for granted 😂
Wireless charging is literally just taking a transformer and cutting it in half. It will never be faster than wired as to do so would break the laws of physics. 110KHz is not that high of a frequency and all your wall chargers already have high-frequency transformers as part of the switching power supply. Saying that it works like induction cooktops is kind of incorrect because cooktops are using that high-frequency switching to generate heat in the pan and the heat it generates is more of a happy byproduct.
And then Apple serializes the wireless charger and the phone and if you place a phone on a different charger it bricks both the phone and the charger. 🙃
Apple - "Universal" that's not good
too much heat generated, it'll ruin the battery quicker.. wired > wireless
What ever say technology mostly advance still using copper
Fastest wireless chargers today are 50W+ , two times faster than most wired iphones.
It's literally impossible for wireless charging to ever be faster or more efficient than wired charging. To do so would break the laws of physics. Magnetic inductance will always have more loss than the loss over a solid conductor.
Fast charging is not a good idea if you want the battery to last….moot point in that case
I think "wireless" is an inaccurate moniker for a technology that requires the device to be in physical contact to a charging device connected to a power source via, you guessed it, wires.
not a single word about the efficiency or rather its losses.
Poor investigation considering that you have to pay for all the losses coming along and wireless itself is power hungry.
This stops so much e-waste! Brovo! 😎🤖
No it will create more e-waste since their goal is to spreads to other appliances meaning everything would have to come with a charger instead of a simple cable plugged into a socket. Did you see how big the charger was for that kettle?
I'm not excited about this stage at all, it would only be good if one single device could power everything.
It's not wireless charging it's pad charging!!
I wonder if This is why Elon Musk got rid of his supercharging teams. How close till we can just park numerous cars on a parking lot and charge them with the same or similar technology?
I'm gonna say it again.. Not wireless, more of PORTLESS.
Not real wireless until the power plant beams it directly into your devices
@@Lyoishinot wireless until the coal can radiate directly into phone hundreds of miles away
Thank you Nikola Tesla 💪😎🎸
Yes.
Nikolai Tesla (cough, cough)
Seems like a lot of waste of energy,vs wired charging.
wireless chargers are very inefficient and waste energy
Just realized that when wireless charging becomes more of the norm, iphones will no longer have a charging port. It would be a cost saving since you no longer have to machine cut the hole
Its about time the burden of sticking a plug in a socket is removed from our lives.
Cancer rates will likely increase.
I'd rather have a power cable on things than have to carry every appliance to one place in the kitchen to use it. That's a tech fail before it even hits the market.
If Apple had their way, and the regulatory agencies did not, then you could kiss an industry wide power charger good bye. I bet Apple had to be dragged , kicking and screaming, to the table for USB C charging, which is now the standard.
Reminder to self: Do not upgrade to next smart phone until Qi2 is out
Wireless charging sucks. It warms up the phone and wastes a lot of power
Nikola Tesla is laughing at us from the grave...
Tesla is actually making you huge progress behind the scenes in this field. They have already developed a wireless charging mat where you can place multiple phones anywhere on the mat to charge it. Expect to see this soon for their cars too! Elon is crazy enough to do it 😂