Wireless Portable Laptop Charger Pad
Group 4
City College of New York
Dr. S. Jacobson
ENGL 21007: Writing for Engineering
May 6th, 2024
Introduction
Many electronic products have become part of our daily lives. Cell phones and laptops have become an indispensable part of modern life because of their multifaceted utility: They act as communication tools to engage with others through phone calls, text messages, emails, and social media; cell phones and laptops empower us to access the vast amount of information on the Internet, enabling knowledge gain anytime, anywhere. Moreover, they are pivotal for work and productivity, facilitating remote work, collaboration, and access to crucial documents and software. Cell phones and laptops provide a lot of entertainment and recreation. Watching movies and playing games can also help us to spend money on the Internet. In conclusion, cell phones and laptops have become indispensable tools that enrich daily life.
As technology advances, so does our reliance on electronics, especially cell phones, and laptops, which have become indispensable tools for work, study, and entertainment. However, despite advances in cell phone and laptop technology, the issue of battery life remains a significant concern for users, especially when traveling or in places with limited power outlets. To solve the power problem, most manufacturers increase the battery capacity to get longer battery life. However, this only solves some of the issues, so some people have invented rechargeable batteries, portable chargers, and wireless chargers to solve this problem. Still, most of these products are only suitable for cell phones, and laptops do not have an excellent product to solve the battery life problem.
Traditional laptop chargers typically rely on a wired connection to charge the device, thus limiting the user to a fixed location with an electrical outlet. Users are tied to traditional power sources or bulky chargers, restricting their freedom and mobility. There is a need for a reliable
solution to wirelessly power laptops on the move. At the same time, portable mobile power sources offer a degree of mobility, and their compatibility and ability to charge laptops often need to be improved. Recognizing this gap in the market, there is an apparent demand for wireless portable chargers specifically designed to meet the power requirements of laptops.
They are introducing wireless portable chargers for laptops addressing this pressing need by
providing users with a convenient and versatile solution to power their devices anytime,
anywhere. This innovation fills a gap in the market by providing a reliable source of power that improves the mobility and productivity of laptop users and their usage time and allows you to charge your laptop anywhere without the limitations of a traditional wired charger or a fixed power outlet. In addition, the technological environment surrounding portable electronics continues to evolve rapidly. Advances in wireless charging technology have made it possible to wirelessly charge a wide range of electronic devices, from smartphones to smartwatches. These advances also highlight the feasibility and potential of extending this capability to laptops. Other Engineering Innovations
There is no doubt that this is an up-and-coming product, but we understand that some similar products are already on the market. The functionality of these products is very similar to what we have in mind. However, those products still have many shortcomings and room for improvement. First, the first innovation is not a product but wireless charging technology. The key to this technology is conductive charging; Energysquare is the inventor of this technology, and according to their explanation, “these technologies operate through direct contact between the transmitter and receiver. Hence the name power by contact.” (energysquare). This technique is perfect for our product. The entire technology comprises a charging pad consisting of tiles
acting as a transmitter and electrodes on the receiver. Eventually, by placing the device electrodes on the charging surface, the transmitter detects the chargeable device and activates power transfer. (energysquare). There are many advantages, such as the ability to charge devices as quickly and efficiently as a wired charger with up to 100W of power. As a conductive charging technology, it emits no electromagnetic waves, minimizing interferences, overheating, and energy loss (energysquare). The technology is undeniably good, but it’s not genuinely wireless because it requires a power outlet. Charging pads still need wires to get power from the outlet and then transmit power to the laptop.
The second product had similar drawbacks, but the product we had in mind was very much like the well-known technology company Lenovo. This product is the Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit. This product uses Energy Square’s conductive power technology. Also, use the Charging pad to charge your laptop; this product is very well-designed, minimalist, and lightweight. Also, use the Charging pad to charge your laptop; this product is very well-designed, minimalist, and lightweight. The combined weight of the adapter and Charging pad is just under 500 grams or one pound (Figure 1), proving how well-designed this product is.
Figure 1: Go, L. (n.d.). Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit [Review of Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit]. https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/accessories-and-software/chargers-and-batteries/chargers/4x21b84024?orgRef=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F#tech_specs
The Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit is a very well-designed product. Still, the downside to many different innovations of a wireless portable laptop charger is the lack of popularity of this product since the charging pad is only limited to Lenovo Laptops (Figure 2), making the product useless to a wide range of groups who own a laptop from a different company making this item inflexible in the market, popularity, and effectiveness.
Figure 2: Go, L. (n.d.). Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit [Review of Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit]. https://smartfind.lenovo.com/accessories/#/products/4X21B84024
Innovation Design Process
Next up is our product design. Our Wireless portable laptop charger also uses a charging pad to charge the laptop, but we have installed a solar cell inside the charging pad that can get power from the sun to charge the laptop. It’s a backup power source, the solar panels are found on the top view of the item. Having small panels on the top of the item (Figure 3) allows it to
easily access sunlight when not in use or put out for recharging. The solar panels are ingeniously connected to solar batteries, which not only store solar energy but also serve as a reliable backup source when the portable
| Figure 3: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o- | charger runs out of standard charging. The | |
| C3RU3R3l8I8-NrLFbzXuzoAO1PLGM3ENUHlT3OqNs/edit | ||
solar panel batteries are connected to their own motherboard, which is connected to the retractable wire, so they can use solar energy when needed.
Figure 4: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o-C3RU3R3l8I8-NrLFbzXuzoAO1PLGM3ENUHlT3OqNs/edit
Figure 5: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o-C3RU3R3l8I8-NrLFbzXuzoAO1PLGM3ENUHlT3OqNs/edit
This is only one of the charging methods, we also made another backup charging method which is inductive/ conductive charging. While the item is
dependent on solar energy and advertised as wireless, there is another unique way the item can be recharged, transferring energy through magnets. The item comes with an Inductive Battery Charger that can recharge in its recharging Dock found on
the Back of the pad (Figure 4). The Inductive Battery Charger is integrated with a Receiver/Charging Coil, which is compatible with the design of a transmitter coil that the Inductive recharging dock (back) and the Inductive Charging Dock (bottom) have installed (Figure 5). The Inductive Battery charger can be recharged from a solar battery or a standard recharger. Like any portable charger, the pad can be charged standardly with a USB-C charger that connects the portable laptop charger pad to any outlet.
Technical Description
Our technical description primarily focuses on the power source (Figure 6), such as the standard charging, solar cell, and inductive battery, as the left side has the standard charging battery with USB ports and chips. The middle has solar batteries to contain the power gained from solar light. On the left, both have transmitter coils to transmit energy when the receiver/charging coil is present, which is integrated into the separate block battery like the Apple Magsafe wireless charger; wires are connected to a board that allows the retractable wire to take out that source.
Figure 6: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o-C3RU3R3l8I8-NrLFbzXuzoAO1PLGM3ENUHlT3OqNs/edit
Innovation
The main difference between this product and others is that we have added an inductive battery and a solar panel. One to store energy and the other to get energy without a charging cable. The hard part of this project was how to add the battery and the solar panel to the charging pad. First, most of the technology has been implemented in other products, so we can save a lot of time here. It will take us about six months to a year to add the battery and the solar panel to the charging pad. Secondly, we need more than a month to test our product. Finally, about our cost, we mainly refer to “Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit”, their price is $200 so we estimate their cost is about $120-$150, since we add the battery and solar panel on top of this one, we can save a lot of time here. Since we added batteries and solar panels to this one, I estimate our cost is around $150, so our selling price can be $200, which includes multiple battery source and compatible with a wide range of laptops compared to the Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit.
To sum up, we will explore the feasibility and benefits, as well as the potential, of developing a wireless portable charger designed to meet the specific power requirements of laptop computers, examining its merits, technical specifications, market potential, and impact on the broader field of portable electronics. And to fill an existing market gap and meet the changing needs of the modern consumer.
References
energysquare. Power by Contact® – energysquare. Energysquare. Retrieved April 29, 2024, from https://energysquare.co/powerbycontact/
energysquare. Power by Contact® – energysquare. Energysquare. Retrieved April 29, 2024, from https://energysquare.co/powerbycontact/
Lenovo. (n.d.). Lenovo Go USB-C Wireless Charging Kit 4.4 (5) Part Number: 4X21B84024
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