Imagine charging your PDA, phone and notebook all at the same time, from the same source, simultaneously. That's the goal of SplashPower, a UK-based start-up that has developed a 'wireless' recharging system.

This week the company announced a deal with Hong Kong-based battery maker Celltronix to explore how its technology can be incorporated into power packs. It recently signed a similar evaluation deal with Korean battery specialist, Hanrim Postech, which supplies the likes of Samsung and LG.

SplashPower's system uses a technique called inductive power transfer. Essentially, a high-frequency oscillating electromagnetic field in the Pad generates a current in the Module's receiver. It's broadly the same way a power transformer works, with a primary coil generating a current in a secondary coil, the difference between the number of loops in each coil governing the change to the voltage. The SplashPad needs to operate at a much higher frequency that a typical transformer in order to bridge the air-filled gap between its equivalent of the two coils.

In addition to saving all that hassle with wires, SplashPower allows multiple devices to be charged on the same Pad, at the same time.

SplashPower expects the first consumer products based on the technology to appear by the end of the year. ®

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Related Link

SplashPower's web site