Energous's Comment on Competitors and Industry Peers
There are many existing and commercially available methods for charging battery-powered
devices, including wall plug-in charging, inductive charging, magnetic resonance
charging, charging stations and more. To our knowledge, almost all consumer electronic
devices equipped with a rechargeable battery come bundled with a method to charge
the device (for example, a power cord). Studies indicate that the consumer has
grown tired and frustrated with tethered charging solutions and that the market
is poised and will be receptive to untethered wire-free power solutions like our
WattUp technology. We believe that the positive market response and interest in
the WattUp technology we have seen suggests that consumer electronic companies
that develop products incorporating our technology will generate incremental sales
and realize highly differentiated competitive advantages.
We believe our WattUp technology has a number of advantages compared to traditional
charging technologies in terms of product spectrum, distance, size, cost, mobility,
foreign object detection and portability. Further, our technology allows us
to target a device and track that device if it moves, or is moving, and transmit
focused energy to the targeted device to charge the device without having to
remove the battery or plug in the device.
A variety of wireless charging technologies are on the market or under development
today. These competitive technologies fall into the following categories:
Magnetic Induction. Magnetic induction uses a magnetic coil to create resonance,
which can transmit energy over very short distances. Power is delivered as a
function of coil size (the larger the coil, the more power), and coils must
be directly paired (one receiver coil to one transmitter coil = directly coupled
pair) within a typical distance of less than one inch. Products utilizing magnetic
induction have been available for 10+ years in products such as rechargeable
electronic toothbrushes.
Magnetic Resonance. Magnetic resonance is similar to magnetic induction, as
it uses magnetic coils to transmit energy. This technology uses coils that range
in size depending on the power levels being transmitted. It has the ability
to transmit power at distances up to ~11 inches (30cm) which can be increased
with the use of resonance repeaters.
Conductive. Conductive charging uses conductive power transfer to eliminate
wires between the charger (often a charging mat) and the charging device. It
requires the use of a charging board as the power transmitter to deliver the
power, and a charging device, with a built-in receiver, to receive the power.
This technology requires direct metal contact between the charging board and
the receiver. Once the charging board recognizes the receiver, the charging
begins.
RF Harvesting. Harvesting RF energy is at the core of our WattUp technology.
RF harvesting typically utilizes directional antennas to target and deliver
energy. To our knowledge, there are two other companies attempting to utilize
a directional pocket of energy similar to that being developed by us.
Laser. Laser charging technology uses very short wavelengths of light to create
a collimated beam that maintains its size over distance, using what is described
as distributed resonance to deliver power to an optical receiver.
Ultrasound. Ultrasound charging technology converts electric energy into acoustic
energy in the form of ultrasound waves. It then reconverts those waves through
an “energy-harvesting” receiver.