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The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) is a multinational technology consortium formed on December 17, 2008, as an open standards development organization. WPC is a virtual corporati…
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Wireless Power Consortium
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The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) is a multinational technology consortium formed on December 17, 2008, as an open standards development organization. WPC is a virtual corporation with administrative offices in Washington, DC. Its mission is to create and promote global adoption of its interface standards: Qi for wireless power transfer in small, mobile electronics such as phones and wearable devices like watches, and Ki for wireless power transfer in kitchen appliances like electric cooktops and kettles. It is an open membership organization comprising Asian, European, and American companie
The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) is a multinational technology consortium formed on December 17, 2008, as an open standards development organization. WPC is a virtual corporation with administrative offices in Washington, DC. Its mission is to create and promote global adoption of its interface standards: Qi (pronounced “chee”) for wireless power transfer in small, mobile electronics such as phones and wearable devices like watches, and Ki (pronounced “kee”) for wireless power transfer in kitchen appliances like electric cooktops and kettles. It is an open membership organization comprising Asian, European, and American companies, advocating for and promoting a global standardization of wireless charging technology.
The founding of the Wireless Power Consortium can be traced to Fulton Innovation, a 100% subsidiary of Alticor, parent company of Amway. The original motivation was to power a portable water purifier, sold by Amway, called eSpring, for which the wireless power transfer technology called eCoupled was created. On November 26, 2008, Fulton Innovation released "The Base Spec: Low Power Specification Guide for Partnered Product Development, Revision 0.9". Buoyed by the acquired intellectual property of a bankrupt University of Cambridge spin-out called Splashpower, and in an attempt to replicate the success story of the 1999 Wi-Fi Alliance, Fulton Innovation and Philips led the establishment of the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) in December 2008.
Introduction of Wireless Standards
The motivation behind a global wireless standard stems from electronics manufacturers' desire to enable interoperability across products, specifically between those that transmit power and those that receive it. A standard would provide interoperability, allowing all devices – from power transmitters to receivers – to work together seamlessly. Furthermore, a standard would remove the need for power cords to charge devices, offering convenience and reducing the clutter from multiple power cords.
The WPC has two active interface standards:
Qi is the global standard for wireless power transfer for a wide range of devices and applications, including smartphones and other portable mobile devices, such as watches. The standard regulates the receiving devices (e.g., smartphones) as well as the power-transmitting devices that power and recharge them. The Qi standard is being applied to wearable devices and is being installed throughout the healthcare/medical field and the transportation market, including airplanes and automobiles.
Ki is a new standard designed to provide wireless power to kitchen appliances. The Ki standard will enable safer, smarter, and more convenient cooking and food preparation in the kitchen while ensuring compatibility and safety for Ki-enabled cooktops and smart appliances. Ki-enabled appliances will operate without power cords or batteries yet will deliver up to 2200W of power. In so doing, appliances are no longer restricted to placement near wall outlets, enabling more space-efficient, sleek, modern-designed kitchens.
Qi Standard 2008 – 2011
The Wireless Power Consortium officially published the Qi interface standard and the low-power specification in August 2010. This first specification limited the power level to 5W. In the first 18 months, there were three separate transmitter types contributed to WPC from Fulton Innovation, Convenient Power, and Sanyo. These devices were released with the first specification, including a version with magnetic attraction, a moving coil, and a third with a coil array. In September 2010, the WPC announced the release of Qi 1.0 and stated it would start work on a wireless power standard for medium power devices, including netbooks, laptops, tablet computers, and power tools. In 2011, the WPC renamed the low-power specification to the Baseline Power Profile to differentiate it from an Extended Power Profile capable of charging at up to 15W that was being developed.
Qi Standard 2012 – 2020
2012 marked the introduction of multiple smartphones capable of Qi wireless charging. In September 2012, the Nokia Lumia 920 was announced, making it the first widely available phone with built-in Qi wireless charging. Nokia was quickly followed by Samsung with the Galaxy S3 (though this phone required a separate back cover for wireless charging), the LG Google Nexus 4, and the HTC Droid.
By 2012, a rivalry had emerged between three competing wireless charging standards: WPC, the Power Matters Alliance (PMA), and the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP). PMA and A4WP both started in 2012, two years after the WPC was founded. PMA, founded by Proctor & Gamble and Powermat Technologies, offered technology similar to Qi that was adopted by several power transmitting designs. A4WP was formed by major component suppliers, with Intel joining in 2013. A4WP offered magnetic resonance 6.78 MHz for multi-device charging.
Qi's specifications were updated in April 2012, with the distance between transmitter and receiver upped to 40mm. In May 2014, the WPC announced that over 500 phones had Qi built in.
In 2015, PMA and A4WP merged and rebranded as AirFuel Alliance (AFA). The next iteration of the Qi standard, the Extended Power Profile (EPP), was also introduced in 2015. EPP delivered 15W of power, setting up a discussion in the industry regarding the path wireless power would pursue to provide a ubiquitous power supply and standard.
Though WPC had more members than the AFA and WPC’s Qi standard was realizing greater commercial success than the AFA, neither standard body had achieved the level of dominance necessary to achieve the ultimate goal of becoming the single global wireless charging standard. The WPC-AFA duel for wireless charging standard supremacy continued until 2017, when Apple joined the WPC and announced its intention to incorporate the Qi standard into the iPhone. Apple’s commitment to WPC, followed shortly later by AFA member Powermat joining WPC, uni
Source: Wireless Power Consortium (CC BY-SA)
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