It sounds like the future, but it’s in the news today. Wireless power is moving electric vehicles one step closer to hitting the road, according to Stanford University scientists. In fact, these scientists recently published a paper in Nature that describes how they have overcome a major hurdle: transmitting electricity to a nearby moving object, like a vehicle, on the move.
The electric vehicle automotive industry is not the only market that will benefit from wireless power transmission over a distance, while in motion. IHS Markit’s 2016 report projects “strong growth to continue, especially as the scope of wireless power application expands into the [diverse] industrial market.”
The industrial market is taking steps to leverage wireless power to become more efficient, innovative, and dependable. Consider all the elements of a factory, assembly line, data center, or warehouse that need continuous, round-the-clock power:
- Factory robots, currently tethered
- RF scanners, which today rely on limited-life batteries
- Sensors and gauges
- Autonomous warehouse transporters
- Power chips that track inventory
- Communication and alert systems
All of these parts and elements need careful consideration when designing and installing the wiring for an industrial space. Wiring, cables, and stationary outlets are costly and limiting, and often a factory layout is outdated as soon as it’s complete.
Wireless power can not only simplify the architectural design of your manufacturing plant or industrial space, but it can also make the environment safer. This is true, especially when considering wiring safety hazards and compliance needs in highly volatile environments such as refineries and chemical plants.
Also, repairs to robotics, line machines or other manufacturing parts can be quite time consuming and costly. Wireless power connectivity can reduce downtime and costly repairs by offering the ability to monitor sensors with an open data connection and constant power.
Efficiency, safety, flexibility, security against loss, the ability to constantly improve and accelerate workflows — all these benefits of wireless power are available to the industrial market now. It’s just a matter of creating the right partnerships to make it happen, before the competition.
At Ossia, we believe in enabling the industrial market without limitations, which is why we license our Cota wireless power technology to forward-thinking, innovating organizations that are reshaping the way we all do business.
Cota™ is Ossia’s patented smart antenna technology that automatically keeps multiple devices charged without any user intervention, and enables a truly wireless, powered-up organization, one that is always on and always connected.
Learn more about how Cota works like WiFi, across a distance, without line-of-sight, while in motion, and how it can be expanded exponentially in your warehouse as easily as replacing a ceiling tile. We look forward to collaborating with you.
