Wireless vs. wired charging, what are the advantages?

For mobile devices, battery life is crucial to truly achieve 24-hour operation.

From the current mainstream charging method, whether it is manual charging or automatic charging, it generally takes 2 hours to charge, and the running time of the device after charging is generally about 8 hours. This traditional charging method can easily affect the working time, rhythm and efficiency of the mobile robot, and thus affect the production rhythm of the entire factory.

**A new battery life revolution is approaching. **The media recently revealed that the company, which is known as a weathervane, plans to acquire Germany's Wiferion, whose main business is to provide wireless charging systems for mobile robots such as AGV/AMR.

The founder of Wiboc, an American wireless charging solution development company, also recently publicly stated that the main scenario for wireless charging in the future will no longer be small devices such as phones and watches, but will gradually move towards robots, medium-sized, and even large mobile electronic devices.

In China, many companies told Gaogong Mobile Robot that wireless charging is becoming popular.

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Wireless vs. wired charging, what are the advantages?

According to whether the vehicle body transmits power to the charging system, it can be divided into contact charging ( wired charging) and non-contact charging (wireless charging).

In the wired charging solution, the power between the vehicle body and the charging system is transmitted based on the contact of conductors (cables, conductor electrodes). According to the operation method, it is divided into three categories: "manual plug-in charging, battery replacement and automatic charging".

Manual plug-in charging is the simplest and quickest, but the labor maintenance cost is high and it is only suitable for scenarios with a low degree of automation.

In contrast, in highly automated scenarios with many vehicles and few people, automatic charging is more efficient and convenient, and has gradually become the more mainstream charging method. When the AGV needs to replenish power, it only needs to automatically report the request and drive to the designated charging area to automatically connect and charge.

However, whether it is manual plug-in charging or automatic charging, wired charging has significant disadvantages. For example, the cables and contacts are exposed to the outside for a long time, which can easily cause poor contact. It also cannot work properly in low temperature, humidity, condensation, flammable and explosive conditions. Therefore, the market has explored wireless charging technology.

**Compared with traditional wired charging, wireless charging has obvious advantages. **Its principle is similar to that of a transformer, and the power transmission between the vehicle body and the charging system is achieved through coils on both sides.

Key benefits include:

**First, it is safe enough. **Wireless charging electrodes are not exposed, and there is no electrode oxidation or contamination. There is no possibility of electrode short circuit, electric shock, or electric sparks. It can be used in scenes that require waterproofing, high cleanliness, and explosion-proofing. Especially in the manufacturing of raw materials and photovoltaic silicon wafers, the impurity control of copper conductors is very strict, and contact charging cannot meet the requirements at all.

**Second, high fault tolerance. **Wireless charging allows a wide range of parking errors and does not require high positioning accuracy for robots. For example, the alignment tolerance of Xioneng can reach ±50mm. While maintaining good transmission efficiency, AGV does not need to spend extra time on precise docking, which improves production rhythm.

**Third, it has strong compatibility. **The same wireless charging transmitter can match robots with different voltages, types and functions, and can be compatible with multiple models, multiple communications and multiple batteries.

**Fourth, low maintenance cost. **Wireless charging has no moving parts, which reduces maintenance costs. He Zhi, deputy general manager of Hertz Innovation, gave an example that in the past, when charging outdoors, it was necessary to build a charging house to waterproof it, but wireless charging can be directly waterproof, so there is no need to build a house.

Finally, it can help robots improve their work efficiency . Wireless charging is safe, takes up little space, and does not require close contact. It allows mobile robots to charge during short stops during work, without the need for special round trips, thereby improving the work efficiency of mobile robots and requiring fewer mobile robots to complete work tasks.

Dr. Hu Xiaolei, co-founder of XiNeng Technology, said that making full use of opportunity charging could potentially save 15%-20% of the number of AGVs.

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Wireless charging still needs to "prove itself"

"Wireless charging technology is in the process of market acceptance," Dr. Hu believes that the current hot topic of discussion is the necessity of wireless charging to replace contact charging.

The first problem is to align the market's understanding of wireless charging. Although foreign robots applied wireless charging technology a few years earlier than domestic ones, the biggest gap between the two is not the technology, but the customer's understanding and acceptance of wireless charging technology.

Sinovation Technology, which was incubated at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, has been continuously cultivating the mobile robot market at home and abroad since its establishment. In the European market, Sinovation Technology shares a similar market share with German wireless charging manufacturer Wiferion.

But back to the domestic market, Dr. Hu believes that the most direct feeling is that the overseas robot market has a quick acceptance of wireless charging and attaches greater importance to the safety of robots.

In the domestic market, there is an interesting phenomenon: when communicating with some end customers who are not very familiar with the advantages of wireless charging, the following situation has occurred: after experiencing the wireless charging solution, the front-end technicians are full of praise, but the management who actually makes the final decision is not very convinced. Everyone's cognition is quite different.

Another major factor is price. Compared with traditional charging solutions, the price of wireless charging solutions is generally higher.

According to a survey conducted by Gaogong Mobile Robotics, in the early stage of market deployment, the specific prices of different projects vary greatly. Some can be 70-80% higher than the baseline of wired charging solutions, while others can be controlled at around 20%. How to prove that the price of wireless charging can bring corresponding value is also a major challenge in current development.

At present, domestic wireless charging manufacturers are working in two main directions. One way is to start with heavy-load AGVs to expand the market. "Small AGVs are not expensive in themselves, and when wireless charging solutions are used, the cost pressure is obvious. However, medium and large load AGVs are expensive, and an AGV that costs tens to millions of yuan will not feel the cost pressure when equipped with wireless charging." Industry insiders said.

Another way is to continuously optimize costs. "After all, this product is only valuable if the price is acceptable to most companies," said Li Jianhua, deputy general manager of Titan.

However, from the perspective of the entire life cycle of wireless charging, there is no metal exposure, electrode oxidation and contamination, the subsequent maintenance cost is low, and it is safer, which can fully cover the first sale price . The cost performance is actually higher, and the market will continue to penetrate. He Zhi, deputy general manager of Shenzhen Hertz Innovation Technology Co., Ltd., said when talking about the cost issue.

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When will the outbreak come?

At present, in the field of wireless charging of AGV/AMR, the main companies in the domestic market include: XiNeng Technology, Hertz Innovation, Titan Intelligence, etc., most of which focus on medium and high power (50W-100KW) wireless charging technology.

Players in the market have already noticeably felt the rise in popularity of wireless charging.

He Zhi, deputy general manager of Hertz Innovation, expressed a positive market outlook: Since the beginning of this year, manufacturers have gradually increased their recognition of wireless charging. **Some specific fields have made efforts first. Cold storage, tobacco, pharmaceuticals and other scenes that require waterproofing and cleanliness have gradually become standard, which can solve the problems that are difficult to solve or over-designed by traditional charging methods. **In the future, with the popularization of specific fields, users will see the benefits of wireless charging in terms of safety, maintenance-free, and optimized production line deployment methods, and it will gradually penetrate into the entire industry. In the next 1-2 years, the market will usher in an explosion.

Hu Xiaolei, co-founder of XiNeng Technology, believes that the market will usher in an explosive growth period in the next one to two years . His judgment is based on this year's market feedback. First, wireless charging can indeed solve the pain points of current AGVs. Some manufacturers who hope to systematically improve the reliability of AGV charging have begun to consider wireless charging solutions as an alternative. Second, the number of inquiries about the company's wireless charging solutions has increased sharply this year, especially after end customers have understood the solutions, they have a high willingness to cooperate.