Greeting to the Element14 community.
I am grateful to Element14, Wurth Electronics and Texas Instruments for an opportunity to evaluate, test and create a solution with the "Wireless Power Transfer Solution to go"
With this Challenge I have a situation that I have been considering for a while but never had the opportunity to implement. With the Wireless Power Transfer Solution I can now start the project.
My wife and her friends have a significant disability, their profound hearing loss bring a number of challenges that always need technology to help. My wife has received an alerting device from Bellman and Symphon and has very good features and applications for more than just hearing loss.
One of the problems associated is the pager receiver requires to be worn continually around the house except one room. In some cases the pager can be a bit uncomfortable to wear especially while sitting. The cost of the solution is fairly high, a simple minimal smoke alarm product cost at least AU$400.00 and to add anything to the solution cost a great deal more.
My project is to apply the Wireless power solution to one product specifically. The Bellman and Symphon Flashing light alert. This device provides a flashing light when activated by any number of transmitters located around the home - "Smoke Alarm, Doorbell, Telephone Ringer and more. The flashing light is not strictly portable and can only be placed in one location, although containing a rechargeable battery long term experience has shown this method does not allow the power to be remove effectively and after a period of time the power socket needs replacing as the constant plugging in a removing wears out the connector.
I intend to use the Wireless Power Transfer solution to develop a charging platform so that Flashing Light Receiver can be removed and relocated to any location in the house then return at the end of the day to recharge the battery. Instead of removing the power connector the unit is simply removed from the charging base relocated to a temporary location, then return to charge the battery when finished.
This is a unique opportunity, after 6 years using the solution my wife has almost given up wearing the pager and now starts missing doorbells and more concerning if she might miss the smoke alarm going off while carrying out her hobby in another room. Our children are growing up and I am out more often so the real chance of her missing a smoke alarm is a real concern.
After completing this project I would like to consider other solutions and experiments for wireless power transfer, one other consideration is from the same manufacturer the audible alerting receiver that has a similar circumstance to the flashing light. Even so while writing this another application has come to mind that could well be useful.
I will continue to write and create videos were possible to supplement this blog and hopefully inspire other ideas for the future.
The next item to write or video is the arrival and review of the Wireless Power Transfer Solution to go kit.
Update: Next Blog entry General Power Source Project Description Update - Wireless Power beyond the phone
