
Dialog/Energous tie-up yields WattUp silicon for remote charging
The new DA4100 WattUp IC is the first chip to be made available following the announcement of Dialog Semiconductor’s strategic partnership and investment in Energous Corporation in November 2016. The investment and partnership saw Dialog become the exclusive component supplier of WattUp ICs and allows Energous to exploit Dialog’s broad sales and distribution channels to accelerate market adoption.
Energous’ technology uses RF energy to supply charging current, by localising the position of the receiver and shaping the transmitted radiation pattern to maximise energy in that direction. Energous describes using the technology at two scales; up to 5m to span a room, or a shorter-range system to operate over a desktop or bench.
Mark Tyndall, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy, Dialog Semiconductor, comments, “We partnered with Energous because we see the potential of their technology to revolutionize the wireless charging landscape, and we believe this new IC will demonstrate how our partnership can transform device charging.”
Stephen R. Rizzone, president and CEO of Energous adds, “By combining multiple discrete components present in our early reference designs into a single silicon chip, we can significantly reduce the cost and silicon footprint requirements of our transmitters while decreasing the bill of materials for our customers.”
The WattUp wireless power RF-transmit IC integrates the ARM Cortex-M0+, RF transmitter and power management functionality into a single 7 x 7 IC. It also features on-chip DC-DC conversion and software, providing seamless integration to Dialog’s SmartBond family of highly integrated, low power BLE (Bl uetooth Low Energy)SoCs. The IC minimizes required board space, enabling ultra-small charging transmitters and simplifying WattUp’s wireless power transmitter system implementation. Evaluation kits of the DA4100 WattUp wireless power RF-transmit IC are sampling now.
Dialog; https://dialog-semiconductor.com/wireless-charging
Energous; https://www.energous.com/technology/transmitters
