ST and WiTricity to develop ICs for wireless charging of metal body phones

STMicroelectronics and WiTricity are developing semiconductor ICs for wireless charging covering wide application areas which includes not only metal body smart phones and also electric cars. The new technology called “Wireless Charging 2.0,” allows little careless placement of phones or any such mobile devices over the wireless charging pad without much bothering about aligning both the devices to connect magnetically the copper coils of both transmitter and receiver. These chips support magnetic resonance based wireless power transfer. The new wireless power ICs are designed to be complaint with AirFuel magnetic resonance specification supporting both resonant and inductive charging. The AirFuel Alliance is driving an interoperable ecosystem of wireless-charging Power Transfer Transmit Units (PTUs) and Power Receive Units (PRUs) that enable users to charge their devices everywhere such as homes, offices, public spaces and vehicles. ST and WiTricity demonstrated high-power wireless-transfer technology for electric vehicle charging at APEC 2016 in Long Beach California. WiTricity recently announced wireless “park-and-charge” development kits using their 11kW solution for electric- and hybrid-vehicle charging. The solution has successfully been tested by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) for inclusion in a new global standard. “Combining the expertise of WiTri...