TI Introduces Contactless Charging Evaluation Kit

Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) announced, in collaboration with Fulton Innovation, what it describes as the industry’s first contactless charging evaluation kit. The bqTESLA™ Contactless Charging Evaluation Kit is described as a high-performance, easy-to-use development kit based on Fulton Innovation’s eCoupled™ intelligent wireless power technology for the design of low-power contactless charging solutions.

Consisting of a single-channel transmitter, a direct-charge receiver and associated magnetics, the kit enables designers to speed development of contactless charging capability for their end applications, such as smartphones, MP3 players, netbooks and global positioning system (GPS) units.

With no additional software development required, the bqTESLA kit allows true "plug-and-play" design functionality. A reference guide gives designers recommendations for coil solutions to allow for receiver customization. The bqTESLA evaluation kit also allows designers to develop systems that are compatible with the future Qi standard being developed by the Wireless Power Consortium.

Key components of the bqTESLA Contactless Charging Evaluation Kit include: transmitter evaluation module; receiver evaluation module; transmitter coil, shielding and magnet; receiver coil, shielding and magnet; and technical documentation.

Designers can order the complete kit or the individual transmitter and receiver evaluation modules. The kit is priced at $250 and is scheduled to be available by the end of 1Q10.