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LAS VEGAS — Fulton Innovation debuted its eCoupled Intelligent
Wireless Power at the last year's CES. At CES 2008, the company is back
with an enhanced portfolio of potential applications – including
a wirelessly powered laptop.
Actual products are still months, perhaps years, away. But the technology
clearly works – and not just for cell phones and laptops . In its
booth, Fulton is demoing wireless power conversion used with a wide range
of electronic devices, from an Apple iPod to a George Foreman grill.
Fulton's eCoupled technology uses a inductively coupled power circuit
that dynamically seeks resonance. This kind of inductive power coupling
usually results in a lot of power loss, as much as 30 percent. Fulton
claims it has reduced that loss to as little as 2 percent.
Interestingly, Fulton is pitching wireless power as a part of the fix
for global warming as well. As it is, most consumers don't realize that
consumer electronics continue to draw power even if they are turned off.
In fact, a wall-wart for a cell phone will draw power even if the phone
is not attached. The company cites research from the U.S. Department of
Energy that found that 75 percent of all electricity used to power electronics
is consumed by products that are switched off.
A wireless solution like eCoupled solves this problem by only allocating
the power that is necessary for any given power usage when it is needed
and then turning off when the charge is complete.
That intelligence, of course, requires circuitry that is much more expensive
than a traditional power supply. And that is why we are all still charging
our phones with a cable.
Although commercial applications for wireless power have been slow in
coming, the company has been using a low-power version of it for the last
six years. Fulton's parent company, Alticor, has sold more than 1.5 million
water purification devices that use the wireless power technology worldwide.
Fulton's technology has also been licensed by Motorola and Herman Miller.
