充电器或难逃被淘汰命运：无线充电技术将成主流

    电磁感应充电技术推广较慢的另一个原因，则是两大阵营之间爆发的标准之争。其一是电力事业联盟（PMA），代表成员包括金霸王（Duracell）、宝洁（Procter & Gamble）、高通和WiTricity等。其二是无线充电联盟（WPC），该联盟支持一套叫做“Qi”的标准，日立（Hitachi）、宜家（IKEA）、威瑞森（Verizon）等都是它的成员。但有些公司同时加入了两大阵营，比如微软（Microsoft）和三星（Samsung）等。

    这两大标准基本上使用的是相同的技术，但技术规格不同，导致企业在产品中嵌入无线充电技术时往往会因为标准问题伤脑筋。据WPC的市场开发副总裁约翰•珀尔泽表示，当前市场上63款手机支持Qi标准，包括诺基亚（Nokia）、谷歌（Google）和索尼（Sony）旗下的部分机型。同时谷歌的Nexus和LG旗下的部分机型则兼容Powerbat的充电标准。

    Powermat公司还计划向星巴克的顾客免费发放能连接店内充电器的“无线充电环”。这种充电环有点像Powermat去年收购的芬兰公司PowerKiss的产品，目前的计划零售价还不到10美元。另外PMA今年二月与A4WP达成了一项支持其Rezence标准的协议，Rezence标准使用了另一种叫做“磁共振”的技术。

    两大行业组织PMA和A4WP都认为，磁共振很有可能将成为无线充电技术的第二代标准，因为磁共振可以传输更多的电力，足以为厨房用具等用电量更大的设备充电。（WPC则表示它也正在开发自己的磁共振技术。）英特尔上月在台北国际电脑展上展示的无线PC也正是使用了Rezence的标准。

    磁共振技术主要依赖电磁共振耦合原理，它会在每个线圈周围形成一个能够传输电力的磁场，不需要对线圈进行精确排列。另外它还可以隔着一段较小的距离进行无线充电（大概两英寸），不需要让设备与充电器直接接触。因此你可以把充电板镶嵌在桌子底下，而不是放在桌面上。

    磁共振技术的另一个优点，是可以同时支持一台以上设备充电。Rezence标准就利用了很多手机都具备的蓝牙功能，来搜索能够与手机兼容的充电器。目前这项技术还没上市，但格拉吉斯基认为，使用Rezence标准的产品最早可能今年就会到店开售。他表示：“这项技术的障碍，只不过是如何让行业里正确的选手采用这项技术，然后以一个合理的价格提供给消费者。”

    但是两英寸的距离毕竟还是太短了。如果要是隔着一间屋子也能充电那该多好？这就是WiTricity公司正在努力的目标。WiTricity是2007年从麻省理工学院孵化出的一家公司，它一直致力于开发公司产品管理与营销副总裁凯纳姆•希达亚特所谓的“高振谐的无线电力传输”技术。

    想象一下，一名歌剧演员可以用她的高音震破玻璃，这就是这项技术的原理。希达亚特表示：“任何物体都有一定的共振频率。”将一台设备和另一台接收设备调到相同的频率，它们就会形成共振。“电力只会传输到共振频率相同的设备上。”这使得电力的输送距离可以达到4英尺。希达亚特补充道：“凭借这一点开启了很多可能性。”

    比如我们可以借此给车辆或者医疗设备进行无线充电。”希达亚特指出：“医院里的电线是个大问题，因为你必须给每样设备消毒。”

    这项技术也可以应用于军事用途，比如执行任务的机器人可以就地充电。另外它也可以使很多士兵不必再背负重达40磅的电池。另外深海中的潜艇也可以利用这项技术向艇外的传感器充电，因为在深海中拉电线显然是不安全的。

    目前，无线充电技术的标准大战还在继续，无线充电技术本身也仍然是个新鲜事物，但这种局面不会永远持续下去。就像Wi-Fi已经成为电脑之间交换数据的标准协议一样，很快也将会有一种无线充电标准胜出，成为通用标准。直到那时，我们才将真正见证无线充电技术的潜力。

    希达亚特表示：“在四五年内，就将会有一种无线充电设备的通用标准。你将忘掉不同型号的充电器和连接线。你会找到一个无线充电热点，而且它很好用。”（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    Another reason for the technology’s slow adoption? A good old-fashioned standards war between industry groups. The Power Matters Alliance, or PMA, backs one type of induction standard and counts Duracell, Procter & Gamble, Qualcomm, and WiTricity as members. The Wireless Power Consortium, or WPC, backs an induction standard called Qi (pronounced chee) and counts Hitachi, IKEA and Verizon as members. Some companies, such as Microsoft and Samsung, are members of both groups.

    The two standards use what is essentially the same technology but apply it with different specifications, creating problems for the companies that must embed the technology in their products. According to John Perzow, vice president of market development for WPC, 63 phones on the market today support the Qi standard, including those from Nokia, Google, and Sony. Meanwhile, Google Nexus and LG phones, among others, will have Powermat compatibility built into them.

    To up the ante, Powermat has plans to give away free “charging rings,” similar to those made by the Finnish firm PowerKiss it acquired last year, to Starbucks customers to encourage them to use in-store chargers. (It plans to sell them at retail for less than $10.) Meanwhile, the PMA struck a deal with A4WP in February to support its Rezence standard, which uses another kind of wireless charging technology called magnetic resonance.

    Both industry groups look to magnetic resonance technology as the likely second-generation standard for wireless charging, thanks to its ability to transfer larger quantities of energy and therefore support larger devices such as kitchen appliances. (The WPC says it is working on its own version of the tech.) The wireless PC that Intel demonstrated at Computex last month—you can see it in a video here—uses the Rezence standard.

    Magnetic resonance technology relies on resonant magnetic coupling, which creates a magnetic field around each coil that transfers power without having to align coils precisely. It can charge a device across small distances (about two inches) rather than requiring near-direct contact—a table can be retrofit with a charging pad attached underneath it instead of embedded in its surface.

    Magnetic resonance also allows more than one device to be charged at the same time. The Rezence standard uses the Bluetooth connection already present in many mobile electronics to detect the presence of a compatible charger. The technology is not yet on the market, but Grajski anticipates products using Rezence could be seen in stores as soon as this year. “Some of the barriers are just getting the right players in industry to adopt the technology and make it available at a reasonable price,” he says.

    Still, two inches is two inches. What about beaming power across a room? That’s where WiTricity comes in. Born out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007, the company continues to develop what Kaynam Hedayat, vice president of product management and marketing, calls “highly resonant wireless power transfer” technology.

    Imagine an opera singer who can break glass with her voice—that’s how the technology works, Hedayat says. “Objects have a certain frequency by which they start vibrating,” he says. Tune a receiver and a device to the same frequency and they begin communicating with each other. “The energy is only transferred to devices that are tuned to that frequency,” he says. This allows electricity to transfer over distances of up to four feet. “With that, a lot of possibilities open up,” he adds.

    Such as charging vehicles or medical equipment wirelessly. “Wires in hospitals are a big issue because you have to sterilize every device,” Hedayat says.

    Or use in military applications, where robots in the field can be recharged while in position. Wireless charging tech could also help soldiers cut down on the nearly 40 pounds of battery that many soldiers carry on their backs, Hedayat says. And charging sensors on submarines would enable battery charging in deep-sea conditions, where it’s unsafe to run wires.

    For now, the wireless charging standards war rages on, and the technology remains a novelty at best. But it can’t go on forever. Just as Wi-Fi became the standard protocol for wireless data exchange between computers, so shall one wireless charging standard emerge as the winner. Only then will we see what wireless charging is capable of.

    “In four or five years, there will be one standard for wirelessly charging devices,” Hedayat says. ” You will forget about different adapters and connecters. You will find a hotspot and it’s just going to work.”