Wi-Charge did not set out to become a manufacturer of consumer electronics products, but that is where the company finds itself as it is looking to convince committed OEMs that over-the-air power charging is an idea whose time has come.
That is exactly how Wi-Charge became the creator of products like a cordless electric toothbrush that won an award at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year.. The device contains a receiver that allows it to stay charged thanks to highly-concentrated beams from an infrared wireless transmitter. No batteries included because none are needed. That infrared wireless technology is Wi-Charge’s real reason for being.
Wi-Charge also created a shelf-based video display for retail stores that doesn’t require batteries or power cords, and other products fitted with Wi-Charge receivers to accept power charges from a WiCharge transmitter.
The Tel Aviv, Israel, company, like another firm, Energous, is trying to make over-the-air (OTA) power charging the next big thing. However, while Energous is promoting RF connectivity for OTA charging, Wi-Charge is using infrared wireless. While RF works on the notion of spreading signals over a coverage area, infrared wireless leverages a more focused, high-frequency beam between a transmitter and a receiver, which Wi-Charge argues is more efficient. It is not limited by line-of-sight, but also cannot penetrate buildings well, but with the walls of a smart office or lviing room it wouldn't ahve to
“The higher the frequency, the more directional you can be. What that means is that 100% of the power that left the transmitter can be captured in the receiver, which is not true of RF,” said Ori Mor, Wi-Charge co-founder and chief business officer. “While RF spreads very well and it's good for maintaining communication as you are moving, if you want to deliver a considerable amount of power to one point, you need to focus the beam.”
What Wi-Charge really wants to do is license its technology to as many consumer electronics OEMs and smart home product companies as possible to create an ecosystem behind wireless power charging that can–pun intended–draw power form itself. But convincing those companies to incorporate new technology into their products can be a challenge.
“Product OEMs are some of the more conservative companies you can think of,” Mor said. We know there is an ecosystem play here, and we discovered we were facing a critical moment in our go-to-market timeline to accelerate adoption either by finding the very special OEMs that are willing to be the first to market with this [or by designing its own products to showcase Wi-Charge’s infrared wireless technology].”
Part of the product development strategy is envisioning and promoting scenarios like a smart bathroom in which toothbrushes, automated faucets, shower heads, window blinds and even an automated toilet all are charged OTA via ceiling-embedded transmitters using Wi-Charge’s core technology.
If the technology licensing model sounds familiar, it’s how Qualcomm built an empire, and Wi-Charge admitted it is seeking to follow in that company’s footsteps. It even counts Qualcomm co-founder Andrew Viterbi as an investor and advisor, which should help its odds of achieving that goal. Also, it already has landed partnerships with Belkin and Charter House Innovations, the former a key consumer electronics firm, and the latter focused on displays and other devices for the the restaurant and hospitality sectors.
“[By developing products] we have given this technology a commercial application, and for now we are providing a turnkey solution, but at some point we expect to move backwards into allowing other companies to bring their own devices forward with this technology,” Mor said. “We will license the technology or provide wireless power as a service depending on the customer. In the long term, we feel there are hundreds of different applications that different companies could be pursuing, and we can't address all of them without licensing the technology.”