Wireless Charging
Have you every wondered how wireless charging of things like toothbrushes and smartphones works? Colin has, and thought he’d find out. This is what he found:
Imagine you’re at a campfire on a chilly evening, warming your hands over the flames. The fire is the charging pad, and your hands are like your phone.
1. Starting the Fire (Powering the Charging Pad): Just like you’d start a fire to get warmth, you plug in the charging pad to start the flow of electricity. This electricity is like the wood or fuel that keeps the fire burning.
2. Feeling the Warmth (The Electromagnetic Field): Once the fire is going, you don’t have to touch the flames to feel warm; the heat radiates towards you. Similarly, the charging pad creates an electromagnetic field around it when powered on. You don’t need to physically connect your phone with a cable; it just needs to be close enough to “feel” the energy, like your hands feeling the warmth of the fire.
3. Warming Your Hands (Charging Your Phone): When you hold your hands near the fire, they absorb the heat, warming up. When you place your phone on or near the charging pad, the coil inside your phone catches the electromagnetic field’s energy, converting it into electrical power to charge the battery. Just as your hands get warmer the closer they are to the fire, your phone charges more efficiently when it’s properly aligned on the pad.
4. The Limits of Warmth (Charging Efficiency): If you wear gloves or move your hands too far from the fire, you won’t feel as warm because the heat doesn’t transfer as effectively. In the same way, if there’s a case on your phone or it’s not positioned correctly, the energy transfer from the charging pad might not be as efficient, leading to slower charging.
5. Shared Warmth (Charging Multiple Devices): Imagine now that there are several people around the fire, all warming their hands. This is like having a charging pad that can charge multiple devices at once. Everyone can enjoy the warmth (energy) from the fire (pad), but if the fire is small or if too many hands are blocking it, not everyone will feel the warmth equally. Similarly, charging efficiency can decrease with more devices.
This analogy captures the essence of how wireless charging works, emphasising the simplicity and convenience of just “being in the presence” of the charging source to receive power, much like warming up by a fire.
So there you go. Next time, imagine your smartphone is cosily sitting next to a camp fire!
If you’ve got any questions about how IT things might work (or might not work in your case!), call us on 01473 350444 or email enquries@heronit.co.uk.
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