St’s new wireless charger development board targets industrial, medical and smart home applications

St has launched a Qi wireless charging package with 50W transmitter and receiver to accelerate the development cycle of wireless chargers for high-power applications such as medical instruments, industrial equipment, home appliances and computer peripherals.

By adopting ST’s new wireless charging solution, developers can bring the convenience and charging speed of wireless charging to applications where output power and charging speed are more demanding. These include cordless vacuum cleaners, cordless power tools, mobile robots such as drones, medical drug delivery equipment, portable ultrasound systems, stage lights and mobile lighting, printers and scanners. Because cables, connectors, and complex docking configurations are no longer required, these products are simpler to design, cheaper, and work more reliably.

The STEVAL-WBC2TX50 power transmitter uses the ST Supercharge (STSC) protocol and has a maximum output power of up to 50W. STSC is ST’s unique wireless charging protocol that charges faster than the standard wireless charging protocol used in smartphones and similar devices, allowing larger batteries to be charged at a faster rate. The board also supports Qi 1.3 5W Baseline Power Profile (BPP) and 15W Extended Power Profile (EPP) charging modes. St’s STWBC2-HP Power transmission system package is the main on-board chip and integrates the STM32G071 Arm® Cortex-M0 microcontroller with an RF dedicated front end. The front end provides signal conditioning and frequency control, drives a high-resolution PWM signal generator at the transmitter, uses 4.1V to 24V DC power supply, and includes a MOSFET gate driver and a USB charging D+/D- interface. In addition, the STWBC2-HP system package SiP can be paired with ST’s STSAFE-A110 security unit to provide QI-compatible device verification.

The STEVAL-WLC98RX power receiving board can handle charging power up to 50W, safely and reliably supporting the full functionality of STSC and BPP and EPP charging modes. The Adaptive rectifier configuration (ARC) extends the charging distance by up to 50%, opening up the possibility of using lower cost coils and more flexible configurations. The receiver board also provides accurate voltage-current measurement for foreign object detection (FOD), thermal management and system protection. St’s STWLC98 wireless charging receiver chip is the main on-board chip, consisting of a Cortex-M3 core and a highly integrated, efficient synchronous rectifier power stage with adjustable output voltage up to 20V.