What Is Wireless Charging? How Does It Work? Explained

Inductive Charging

Inductive Charging, also known wireless charging was invented by Nikola Tesla later came to be used in smartphones, tablets, smartwatches around 2009. Nikola Tesla also showed how to light a bulb wirelessly. This technology helped us to change our way of charging in our devices. Simply, how this works is that you do not need to connect you phone or watch to charge, as it's name suggests it's wireless, there will be a magnet in the back of our phone and there will also be the same pattern of magnets on the charger, and we just put our device on top of it, then the device will charge with no connections. The first ever phone to support wireless charging was Nokia Lumia 920 launched in 2012. In some wireless chargers there won't be a visible magnet, instead it is inside it. But there is more sophisticated technology behind it, that is what I'm going to explain.

How this works

This process works by using Electromagnetic Induction. The charging base consists of a circle shaped coil which is powered by alternating current (AC) creating a magnetic feild which can be used for power transfer. When we place the device on the charging base, the magnetic feild leads to form current in the coil which is ready to get converted to direct current (DC), ready to charge the device's battery.

Disadvantages 

While you can charge your device easily without connecting, wireless chargers are often slow while charging and takes time. Most wireless chargers are either 15W or 20W which is considered very slow. Wireless chargers are also known for heating up during the charging process, and this is normal as electromagnetic induction process transfers energy it can quite heat up. Improper alignment can also cause these issues.

Advantages 

Belkin wireless charging powerbank

After introducing wireless charging smartphones there has been wireless charging powerbanks which have very slim versions. As these are slim we can easily stick it to the phone on the go. There also has been phone back cover with magnets same as the shape of the magnets inside them, giving us a stronger magnet so it wouldn't be loose and fall off.

Wonder

If you thought the battery used in wirelessly charging phones are different type battery, No, it is the same lithium-ion battery used in every other devices.

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