[Let's Tech] How Does Wireless Charging Work?

Wireless charging is a technology where there has been very little innovation in recent years, standard in the industry has been wireless charging of 7.5-15 watts.

Honor has now made a breakthrough in this area, the Honor Magic 4 Pro 5G has 100 watts of wireless charging.

But how does wireless charging work? What challenges did Honor face on the way to 100 watts? Let's find out in this article!
If you want to know more about the key features of the Magic 4 Pro you can have a look at the post [HONOR Magic4 Pro] : Key Feature Summary : This is THE REAL PRO :)

1. How does wireless charging work - Explanation

The charging current for a smartphone, for example, cannot be transmitted through the air so easily, because air is an electrical insulator for electricity. But just as radio waves from radio or television transmitters are transmitted through the air, energy can also be transmitted. Wireless energy transmission makes use of two laws of physics:

1. Law: Electric motor principle

A current-carrying conductor generates a magnetic field. If the conductor is also in a magnetic field of a permanent magnet, the two magnetic fields influence each other and the rotary motion of an electric motor is produced.

2. Law Generator principle:

When an electrical conductor moves in a magnetic field, an electrical voltage is generated (induced) in the conductor. The operating principle of this power generation is used in generators or dynamos.

(Source: https://www.conrad.de/de/ratgeber/technik-einfach-erklaert/qi-standard.html)

In practice, two coils are used in inductive charging. One coil is the transmitting coil and the other coil is the receiving coil. The transmitting coil builds up the necessary magnetic field. In order for the receiving coil to generate (induce) a voltage, it would have to move in the magnetic field. Since this is not possible mechanically, a trick is used. Instead of moving the conductor of the receiving coil, the magnetic field is moved. This is achieved by operating the transmitting coil with alternating voltage. The constantly changing magnetic field then also generates an alternating voltage in the receiving coil, although the receiving coil itself is not moved.

This means that the magnetic field, which is constantly "rotating" due to the AC voltage, induces a voltage in the receiver coil and thus the electricity is transferred to the receiver device.

Even under ideal conditions, the transmittable power in inductive chargers is only a few watts. This is already a limitation that Honor had to overcome to offer 100 watts of wireless charging by the Honor Magic 4 Pro 5G.
To understand the other challenges Honor had to overcome, let's take a look at the pros and cons of wireless charging.

2. Pro and Cons of Wireless Charging

Advantages:

With wireless charging, you could save yourself the fiddly plugging in to charge your smartphone. You simply place the smartphone on the charging pad connected to the power supply - and that's it. A charging pad looks more elegant than a dangling cable.  Due to the absence of openings for sockets, it is also hygienic, because a wireless charging pad can be wiped with a damp cloth and dust does not get into the device. Those who fear data espionage when charging at unknown USB charging stations can still use wireless charging. There is hardly any risk of espionage or malware via this route.

The drawbacks:

One of the downsides is efficiency. Any inductive charging technology has a lower efficiency than one with a cable. That means: More power is consumed to fully charge a battery. Furthermore, charging via wireless takes much longer and tends to heat the device a bit more, especially when it is not optimally placed on the charging mat.

So, if the electrical coils are not exactly in line, some of the efficiency is lost, and the smartphone charges slowly and not efficiently.

The additional heat that is generated here also damages the battery, because the worst thing for a battery is heat, so the battery is not as viable for as long and lasts fewer recharge cycles.

One obvious drawback is the blocked phone: While the device is on the charging mat, you can * videos, for example, but you will hardly want to make calls with it, apart from using a hands-free mode or when you take it off the mat for a call and put it back on afterward.

3. Why 100 Watt Wireless Charging was a challenge to develop and is an innovation.

The first obvious point that had to be overcome here is the heat development, heat damages the battery!

How can you now solve the problem, because at 100 watts wireless charging as the Honor Magic 4 Pro 5G has it, the heat development is large

Here the solution is very easy, so Honor has built a fan into the charger to keep the charging station cool, the fan sits down here and pushes the cold air from the bottom up to the warming coil.

We will have to look at the reviews to see what the noise from this fan looks like, but the solution is still clever.

The second point is the amount, 100 watts can not simply be transferred with a module as I have expanded in the video, the physics limits here the amount of energy that can be transferred.

Honor can simply use another physical law for the Honor Magic 4 Pro 5G.

Simply put, if the turns of the copper cable are increased, more energy can be transmitted.

And the last point is that power is lost as soon as the two coils are not placed perfectly on top of each other, here you can go the way that other manufacturers have gone and make sure that these two coils are always perfectly on top of each other with magnets or you can go the way of the Honor has gone.

When we look at the Honor Magic 4 Pro 5G charging dock, we see a clever design.

Honor has built a **** into the charger where the Honor Magic 4 Pro 5G fits perfectly, so the alignment of the two coils is perfectly aligned once the device is in this ****.

At the same time, Honor ensures that I can continue to use the smartphone despite charging it in the charging station.

4. Conclusion

I personally am very happy about this innovation in this area, when the feature was announced at the Honor Magic 4 Pro 5G launch event I was quite incredulous whether I heard correctly.

I have all the technology enthusiasts are on WhatsApp, We Chat, written whether I understood it correctly whether this can be that we get 100 watts wireless charging.

This innovation finally drives the industry in the direction where wireless charging becomes more relevant again.

I'm especially curious how big the difference in the time of charging is between wireless and wired.

So I'll be looking forward to the first reviews as soon as the device is available, maybe I'll even have the chance to try out this feature myself and tell you how well Honor's solutions work.

But at the same time, I'm critical of how much of a strain it puts on the battery.

One thing is clear, it is a step into the future, a future I am very excited about and a future we can all be excited about.

See you around 

Schildizz