Researchers have long explored the science of transmitting electricity wirelessly, but big technical hurdles exist to make that an efficient way to charge laptops or ferry power for thousands of miles. The emergence of electric cars has boosted interest in wireless charging, and a company known for making chips for mobile phones and telecom equipment wants to be an early player in the field.
Qualcomm announced yesterday a project in London to demonstrate a technology it only bought recently. The California company purchased the intellectual property of HaloIPT for an undisclosed sum and folded the startup’s employees into its European research and development crew, which is based in the United Kingdom. The field trial is set to start early next year and will include up to 50 electric cars.
Qualcomm has been doing its own research on wireless charging for mobile devices. Electric car charging may seem to fall outside of its core business now, but Qualcomm, like many other tech companies, is seeing a merger of communication technologies for cars and gadgets. More drivers are using navigational systems, and more intelligence is being added to these systems to find destinations and map alternative routes. Meanwhile, mobile phone apps have cropped up to unlock car doors and start engines. Some apps help drivers find the closest electric car charging station, tell them if a charging spot at that station is open and notify them when their cars are fully charged.
Qualcomm is a giant in cellular technology for mobile phones and telecom equipment, but the company bought Atheros Communications, a wifi equipment maker, for $3.1 billion earlier this year in order to expand its reach in a broader wireless market. More mobile gadgets such phones and tablets can now connect to both the cellular and wifi networks. Adding wireless car charging technology to Qualcomm's technology mix therefore makes sense, said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of Qualcomm’s European research and development team
“What we hope to do is to work into the smart grid and power grid communications with our Atheros acquisition and smart phones,” Gilbert said. “Consumers will find smart phones to be a significant part of their relationship with their electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids -- to manage their charge rates, efficiency and connectivity.”
Although Qualcomm sells wireless equipment and software, it gets more profit from licensing wireless technologies. And licensing is what the company has in mind for HaloIPT’s technology, Gilbert said.
HaloIPT was only founded in 2010, but its technology came from a two-decade research at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. The company’s technology is based on the concept of inductive power transfer, where two coils are tuned to generate a magnetic field in which power moves from one point to another. Qualcomm had been working on the same concept before buying HaloIPT.
The startup is one of many companies exploring the use of inductive power transfer for charging cars. WiTricity, a spinoff of MIT, is doing the same and has lined up Toyota as an investor. Other carmakers, such as Nissan, are working on wireless charging as well. Companies such as chipmakers Intel and Texas Instruments and consumer electronics companies Nokia and Dell are all developing products for wireless charging consumer electronics.
For car charging, the idea is to embed a charging mat in the ground and having the driver park the car over it. Power will move from the mat to a receiver built into the bottom of the car. Sending power efficiently – without losing too much of it during the transfer -- is a big hurdle to overcome. Technology developers are working on equipment to achieve more than 90 percent efficiency, which is what wired charging equipment can deliver.
Achieving that 90 percent efficiency will require drivers to align their cars to the charging mats very closely. Gilbert said part of HaloIPT’s technology addresses this alignment issue.
“If you are like me and don’t park very well, then (HaloIPT's technology) takes that into account and delivers a uniformed and efficient high power delivery,” Gilbert said.
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