Today Apple filed for a shake to charge patent what does this mean for future iPhones? Maybe the days of looking for an outlet maybe over in the future but for now look for one.
Electromagnetic induction, or the production of electric current in a conductive element as it moves through a magnetic field, has been leveraged to generate power for a number of so-called “shake to charge” or “batteryless” consumer products.
Technology based on the phenomenon has been used for years to power small, power efficient devices such as flashlights and radios. To produce enough electric current, these systems usually use a thick coil of copper wire as the conductor, adding to the product’s size.
Apple’s invention proposes the use of printed coils with one or more moveable magnets, a reversal of the traditional configuration in which the heavy copper coil moves across a stationary magnet. The magnets in Apple’s system move alongside a circuit board holding printed coils to create an “electromotive force,” or voltage, across said coils which can be used to generate power.
Key to the system’s functionality is the creation of the printed coils, which Apple claims can be formed using any technique for printing modern circuit boards. As an example, printed coils can be formed by “depositing copper on a substrate to form traces in the shape of coils” or “selectively etching copper from a substrate” to achieve the same effect.
