physics

Powermat Technologies

Powermat Technologies is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Powermat Technologies rather than just read about it. In short: Powermat Technologies Ltd. is a developer of wireless power techniques. The company licenses intellectual property (IP), selling charging spots to public venues along with the software to support their maintenance, management, and consumer interaction.

Key takeaways

Powermat Technologies belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Powermat Technologies to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Powermat Technologies from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Powermat Technologies Ltd. is a developer of wireless power techniques. The company licenses intellectual property (IP), selling charging spots to public venues along with the software to support their maintenance, management, and consumer interaction. The company's inductive charging technology has been adopted by the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) and is the platform adopted by Duracell, General Motors, Starbucks and AT&T.

Products Powermat manufactures both receivers and transmitters for the mobile industry, consumers, and public venues. It licenses its technology, which enables compliance with the AirFuel (formally PMA) and the Qi standard. Furthermore, Powermat operates a software service system to allow venue owners to control and manage their installed wireless power networks, each of which consists of charging spots and a gateway.

Technology

The company's technology is based upon Inductively Coupled Power Transfer. As the block diagram shows, varying the current in the primary induction coil within a transmitter generates an alternating magnetic field from within a charging spot. The receiver is a second induction coil in the handheld device that takes power from the magnetic field and converts it back into electric current to charge the device battery. An additional part of the technology is the System Control Communication: Data over Coil (DoC) – the Rx sends feedback to Tx by changing the load seen by the Tx coil. The protocol is frequency-based signaling, which enables fast response by the transmitter. Each receiver is equipped with a unique ID (RxID), enabling the system, when installed in public venues, to recognize users and communicate with them. The RxID is communicated as part of the data over coil to the Tx.

History The company was founded in 2006 by Ran Poliakine. Its first products were launched in 2009. In 2011, General Motors announced that it would integrate Powermat's wireless charging technology into certain vehicles in its 2013 Chevrolet Volt line and would also invest in the private company. In the same year, Powermat also partnered with Leyden Energy, manufacturer of advanced lithium-imide (Li-imide) batteries, in order to develop wireless chargeable batteries, and with Arconas, provider of public seating, to incorporate wireless charging directly into airport seating and lounge areas. Among the first integrations with airports were those at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Aspen–Pitkin Airport, Eppley Airfield in Omaha, and Toronto Pearson International Airport. Powermat and Procter & Gamble created a joint venture under the Duracell Powermat brand that began operations in January 2012. The entertainer Jay-Z signed on as the "face and voice" of the venture and took an equity stake in the company. As part of a partnership with Madison Square Garden begun in mid-2012, the arena features Duracell Powermat charging surfaces in a number of suites and other areas. In addition, Duracell Powermat charging spots were embedded in Jay-Z's 40/40 Club NYC club tables. A year later, Powermat Technologies, along with Procter & Gamble, founded the Power Matters Alliance, an alliance of semiconductor and consumer electronics industries as well as governmental organizations. The alliance is dedicated to advancing smart and environmental wireless power. AT&T and Starbucks are board members, and among the Alliance's members are Samsung, LG, HTC, BlackBerry, Huawei, ZTE, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Broadcom, Fairchild Semiconductor, Freescale, IDT, Otterbox, Incipio and Skech. In October 2012, Powermat and Starbucks announced a pilot program to install Powermat charging surfaces in store tabletops in 17 Boston-area locations. The technology is consistent with Starbucks' environmentally friendly guidelines. As the pilot ended in July 2013, Starbucks decided to bring the Powermat's wireless charging technology to additional locations in Silicon Valley. Powermat announced it had acquired Powerkiss, a developer of integrated wireless charging techniques. Powerkiss, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, had deployed wireless charging hot spots across Europe since its founding in 2008. In November 2013, the company announced a deployment at some Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf locations. Additional Powermat systems were installed at McDonald's restaurants in New York City and in select locations in Europe. In January 2014, the company, together with Flextronics, agreed to collaborate on embedding wireless power in electronic mobile devices. In March 2015, Samsung included wireless charging in its Galaxy S6 mobile phone series. In June 2015, Powermat and Dupont launched the Dupont Corian charging surface. In January 2016, Powermat rolled out and installed at 150 Starbucks Chicago stores. In December 2016, Elad Dubzinski was appointed the company's chief executive officer. In September 2017, Apple announced at its annual Keynote event that the new iPhone line-up (iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X) would feature inductive wireless charging (Qi standard). This announcement had a significant effect on the wireless charging market, and Powermat was quick to announce that all existing charging spots would be compatible with Qi in order to support iPhone users. A few months later, during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January, Powermat announced its membership in the Wireless Power Consortium, developer of the Qi standard, and announced its SmartInductive technology. In September 2018, Powermat HQ moved to a new office in the city of Petah Tikva, Israel.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Powermat Technologies

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Powermat Technologies claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Powermat Technologies before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Powermat Technologies ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Powermat Technologies

In research: Powermat Technologies appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Powermat Technologies in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Powermat Technologies is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Consumer electronics brands, Electronics companies established in 2006, Electronics companies of Israel, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Powermat Technologies outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Powermat Technologies in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Powermat Technologies means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Powermat Technologies out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Powermat Technologies in simple terms?

Why does Powermat Technologies matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Powermat Technologies?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Powermat Technologies.