Apple patent reveals plans for wireless charging
iPhone users may no longer have to untangle bunches of cable to recharge their mobile devices if Apple’s latest plan to use data connections for long-distance charging comes to fruition.
There have been rumours in the past that Apple was evaluating wireless charging technology, but its patent filing on 27th April shows a surprising new way to achieve it. The approach could let people use Wi-Fi, satellites or mobile data plans to charge their mobile electronic devices.
Apple’s patent filing indicates that it plans to use existing technology as a building block for its approach, using higher-range electromagnetic frequencies than are normally used to transmit data.
Apple’s new approach would use specially designed antennae to send energy beams over frequencies that are customarily used for Wi-Fi, ensuring a stable and strong signal that would provide the capability of wireless charging over an extended range.
According to Apple Insider, Apple’s patent filing proposed several ways to achieve that extended range, but the application did not provide a lot of details on how it would work in practice.
“The idea of piggy-backing wireless charging on top of existing communications frequencies is not new,” said Apple Insider. “Prior research into the field has been promising, with finding smaller devices can be powered and trickle-charged using only Wi-Fi signals. That technology has yet to find a practical application, however, and companies developing up-and-coming wireless charging systems mostly rely on relatively high-power inductive components that suffer steep drop-offs in transfer efficiency.”
Interestingly, recently leaked schematics for the iPhone 8 appear to show space on the back of the case for a wireless charging pad that resembles the patch antenna discussed in the patent filing.