New Industry Products

Wirelessly Rechargeable, High-Energy Density Ceramic Li-ion Batteries for the IoT

August 01, 2019 by Paul Shepard

Ossia Inc. and NGK Insulators, Ltd. announced a strategic partnership to provide customers with a first-of-its-kind, wirelessly powered rechargeable battery solution ideally suited for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. NGK's EnerCera® series Li-ion secondary batteries are ultra-small, ultra-thin, and ultra-high performance.

In addition, EnerCera series batteries are uniquely capable of high-temperature installation, a meaningful advantage. Ossia's FCC certified Cota® Real Wireless Power™ technology efficiently delivers remote, targeted energy to devices at a distance, and can wirelessly charge EnerCera series batteries while they are in-device and in-use.

The joint solution offered by Ossia and NGK removes one of the key barriers to broader IoT adoption—providing meaningful power to IoT devices without the need to remove batteries to recharge or replace them.

"When deployed, IoT devices and sensors augment productivity and enhance the customer experience. But providing meaningful, consistent power to them has been limiting broader IoT proliferation," said Preston Woo, Ossia's Chief Strategy Officer. "NGK has now commercialized the world's smallest high-performance Li-ion secondary batteries. These EnerCera Coin and Pouch batteries provide sufficient power for feature-rich IoT devices in very convenient form factors.

“By integrating Cota Real Wireless Power into IoT devices, combined with NGK's EnerCera batteries, IoT devices will have high functionality while staying constantly charged. This is a fundamental game-changer in the real world,” Woo concluded.

Ossia's recent FCC certification announcement targets commercial and industrial spaces, prime for the NGK EnerCera line. The largest barrier to the promise of IoT's proliferation is the ability to deliver power to billions of devices in a cost-effective manner. There will be 30 billion IoT devices by 2020, and the number is expected to grow to more than 75 billion by 2025, according to industry estimates.

But a deployment on that scale is nearly impossible to achieve through traditional wired power, and devices operated by conventional disposable or rechargeable batteries present their own challenges, including both the financial and labor costs associated with removing and replacing batteries as well as the environmental impact of battery disposal.

"At NGK, our corporate philosophy is centered on adding new value to society and enriching human life," said Iwao Ohwada, General Manager of NGK's ADC division. "Our collaboration with Ossia is perfectly aligned with those ideals. Delivering secondary batteries into devices with wireless recharging capabilities not only opens up incredible new possibilities for companies looking to drive greater efficiency and better serve the customer with IoT devices and sensors, it also addresses urgent environmental concerns that will inspire even more innovation.

“We extensively evaluated the wireless power space and chose Ossia as one of our partners with their best-in-class technology,” Ohwada added.

NGK and Ossia plan to provide the Cota Real Wireless Power technology solution for devices looking to install NGK's EnerCera series batteries. In addition to its unique tolerance for high-temperature mounting techniques, the EnerCera Coin Li-ion battery features energy density that is double that of commercial secondary batteries of the same size, with much lower internal resistance.