Hosted on the Hackster Website, Contestants Used IDT’s Wireless Power Reference Kits to Bring Wireless Charging to a Variety of Applications
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 28, 2016 — Integrated Device Technology, Inc.® (IDT®)and Digi-Key Electronics today announced the winners of their contest seeking innovative uses of IDT’s wireless power kits, with top honors going to the developer of a wirelessly charged coffee maker. Er Bharath Ram, of Chennai, India, won first prize for his “On the Go Coffee Maker” and will be rewarded with a Samsung Galaxy Note5 and Samsung Gear S2, each featuring IDT wireless charging semiconductors.
The contest asked electronics experts and tinkerers alike to incorporate wireless charging capabilities into products by using IDT’s 5 W wireless power reference kits. Sponsored by Digi-Key Electronics, a leading global distributor of electronic components, the theme of the contest was, “Power Without Boundaries.” The contest was hosted at hackster.io, the world’s largest hardware creation community.
Other winning submissions included wireless charging for a K9 mobile sentry, a universal smart home remote, a green energy bag, a pacemaker, and, finally, bionic organs. Those innovators will also receive Samsung products powered by IDT wireless power chips.
Ram used the IDT kit, a 5 V battery and a few other materials to develop his coffee cup, whose heat is controllable through an Android app. In his submission, Ram noted that integrating wireless charging made his gadget essentially waterproof, an important feature when it came time to wash it.
“We saw a wide range of great ideas from around the globe, mixing fun and very practical applications,” said David Sandys, Digi-Key director of Technical and Strategic Marketing. “The common thread that ran through them was how easily IDT’s wireless power kits can be integrated into today’s electronics systems.”
IDT’s turnkey wireless power kits make integrating wireless charging easy, affordable and practical for a broad range of consumer electronics. With plug-and-play ease of integration, the Qi-compliant transmitter and receiver reference kits are built around proven IDT wireless power semiconductors, and include easy-to-use reference boards and comprehensive design support collateral. Support materials include instructional videos, user manuals, foreign object detection (FOD) tuning guides, layout guides, layout instantiation modules, schematics, bill-of-materials (BOM), Gerber files, and more.
“IDT is the leader in providing wireless power semiconductors for top smartphone makers and other global brands, but, as we’ve seen through this contest, electronics developers don’t need a top-tier pedigree to integrate wireless charging into their designs,” said Mario Montana, IDT vice president and chief sales officer. “IDT’s thanks go out to all the innovators who spent a bit of time with our reference kits and showed the world how easily accessible wireless power capabilities are for today’s designers.”
