The main problem with the wireless charging world is that there are way too many wireless charging standards. Luckily however one standard has managed to peak and that is Qi - the worlds most popular wireless charging standard. WPC - Wireless Power ConsortiumWireless Power Consortium, also known as WPC, was established in 2008 and they are the force behind the Qi standard. WPC consists of different manufacturing companies who are all part of the standards development. That includes companies such as Asus, LG Electronics, Nokia, Motorola Mobility, HTC, Huawei, Samsung, Sony and BlackBerry. As you can see from the list, it is full of big electronics companies. This is one reason why Qi is the most popular wireless charging standard. Qi wireless charging standardThere are 3 different specifications of the Qi standard: Low Power, Medium Power and High Power. The most popular spec is "Low Power" that is also used for charging smartphones. Charging pads and receivers with that specification can deliver power up to 5W. The maximum distance between your wireless charging pad and smartphone is usually 5mm. The problem with Low Power is that 5W simply isn't enough anymore. That is why Qi recently announced that they have developed a new specification that can produce 15W of power. That can actually charge your device faster than a wall outlet. Medium Power specification can deliver power up to 120W and that is more than enough to power devices such as laptops. The High Power specification was announced in 2015 by WPC and it can deliver up to 1KW of power. That is crazy as it can pretty much power everything in your home. The Medium and High power specifications aren't widely spread yet. How does Qi work?The Qi wireless charging standard basically works with planar coils that creates an electromagnetic induction between them. The system consists of two basic modules: base station, also known as charging pad that gives the inductive power, and a receiver. A base station/charging pad has a power transmitter that consists of either one or multiple transmitting coils. The coil generates an oscillating magnetic field. A receiver contains a coil as well. Once those coils are moved close enough, an alternating current is created in the receiving coil by the magnetic field. The closer the two coils are the more efficient power transfer is. There are two types of Qi wireless charging pads: guided positioning and free positioning. With guided positioning there is a certain spot where you have to move your smartphone/receiver to in order to charge it. That is usually what we call single coiled pads. With free positioning you can basically put your device anywhere on the charging pad and it will start charging. Those kind of pads usually have 3 coils. Devices compatible with QiWith built-in wireless
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