If you’ve ever had your phone’s battery die in the middle of a call or have found yourself searching for the charger to your MP3 player, Powercast has a solution.
Soon, you’ll be able to ditch the cords without worrying about dead batteries and will be able to use one device to charge all of your gadgets. According to John Shearer, CEO of Powercast, "anything that uses AA, AAA, or lower-powered batteries" can be charged with Powercast’s Powercaster. "A cell phone can recharge overnight in your pocket or messenger bag," he said
Like radio, TV, Bluetooth, and cell phones, Powercast works using RF signals. RF power delivers milliwatts of juice to gadgets using up to 4.2-volt batteries, so it’s perfect for recharging smaller items such as computer peripherals and flash-memory based devices like the iPod nano. A Powercaster transmitter that’s integrated with anything that plugs into a wall outlet, like a TV or desk lamp, sends out a continuous RF signal over the 900-MHz band to a Powerharvester receiver.
The Powerharvester is around half the size of a AAA battery, so you’ll barely notice that you’re carrying it. Any device equipped with this receiver will be continuously charged, so you’ll never have to deal with dead batteries. Powercast’s receivers can be installed in many consumer electronics, including cell phones, PC accessories, toys, and medical implants.
WHY THE COMPETITION SHOULD CARE
After keeping the technology a secret for years, Powercast came into the spotlight this past January at the Consumer Electronics Show. With the company capable of serving so many markets, including consumer electronics and medical implants, Shearer felt that the product was ready. Founded in 2003, Powercast is the first company to offer truly wireless power. Unlike other charging technologies from companies like Splashpower and WildCharge, Powercast-enabled devices don’t need to sit on a charging pad.
"Powerharvester harvests available energy and directly powers devices or recharges batteries," said Shearer. "Greater than 50 percent of the energy that’s collected is used for charging." Having your cell phone "a couple of feet away or on a desk [across the room] can continuously keep it charged." For devices that use replaceable batteries, this could mean never having to change them again.
Powercast is currently working with several "tier-one OEMs on a variety of applications." Shearer said that these include computer peripherals, game controllers, and anything else that uses a small battery. The first Powercast-enabled product will be available in late 2007. "Philips will be the first [partner]," Shearer told us. "We’re working with them on lighting applications."
Additional applications will roll out in late 2007, with most coming in 2008. According to Shearer, adding this technology to consumer electronics is a rather low-cost venture, meaning that it can be added to lots of devices without raising their price tags.
CHANCE OF SUCCESS Because of the convergence of today’s mobile devices, there’s high demand for truly wireless power. "Powercast has a solution that could be a simple answer," said Sara Bradford, director of the energy and power systems group at Frost & Sullivan. "The company is unique in terms of taking an age-old technology (RF) and using it to harvest power wirelessly."
However, the success of Powercast depends on whether the company creates additional "solid device OEM relationships to integrate this technology," said Bradford. She also related that Powercast is not alone, as this is a similar chicken-and-egg challenge that many emerging-battery and fuel-cell developers are faced with. Since Philips is already a partner, and undisclosed others are on the table, Powercast seems to be taking the necessary steps to thrive.
via: laptopmag.com
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