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Antennae operate across all standards for wireless power transfer

21st November 2017

NuCurrent

Caroline Hayes

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For higher efficiency and smaller form factors in wirelessly power devices, Nucurrent's patented low resistance antennae, are the basis for customised designs and prototypes developed with customers to bring wireless power to new strucutres, such as furniture, as well as conventional consumer electronics and wearables.

The MLMT antennae operate across Qi and AirFuel wireless charging standards. According to the company they provide 20% higher quality factor than other printed coils for Qi and, at 28mm thickness for an 11ÂµH Qi receiver, can be nearly 20% thinner than currently available alternatives which can be up to 1.37mm thick.

The company's technology mitigates typical high frequency effects, by providing more surface area through which current flows. In this way the inductors (antennae, coils or resonators) have lower resistance and higher Q, to create wireless power antennae and inductors for applications such as RF surface-mount component and induction heating.

Form factors can be as 0.08mm (0.18mm with shielding) and 12.7 x 12.7mm, with outputs from 50mW to 100W.

The company offers a custom design service, with custom shapes for transceiver and receivers for Qi, AirFuel, proprietary and multi-mode options.

A recent project with Texas Instruments demonstrates the potential for wireless charging in the automotive market. Here, coils have to withstand vibration, temperature extremes, and moisture, meaning that conventional Litz wire coils are not suitable for use, as they are prone to inconsistencies and breakage in the harsh environment of a vehicle.

Working with Texas Instruments, the company replaced Litz wires, which are multiple braided wires that glued into a coil formation and then glued onto a substrate, with a PCB using its coils.

Texas Instrument tested PCB coils and found they outperformed the nearest competitor by 20%, with lower ESR. It has fast-tracked NuCurrent's designs for inclusion in the Wireless Power Consortium's Qi specification, as the A21 coil.

It can be used by auto manufacturers as a durable and efficient means of wireless charging without the fear of coil deterioration and breakage over time. This will allow them to incorporate charging areas in a centre console to recharge a phone while driving, for example.

The company has a partnership with Molex for manufacturing to produce healthcare and medical devices such as this NuRez technology-based hearing aid which can wireless charge within a container with the corresponding circuitry. (The image here shows the hearing aid circuitry in the centre of a larger PCB, demonstrated at IDTechEx 2017, which has an LED to demonstrate it is charging.)