Fast charging, We are in the future!

Overview

        We all remember those days when we got our first mobile phone; it seemed like it took forever to charge. With the mobile platform developing at a meteoric rate, its hardware and applications tend to drain a lot of power from the batteries. One solution to this would be to increase battery capacity but then again, everything has a limit; it would need lot more time to charge and in addition to that, the phone would become bulky. Thus one of the solution that came up is to increase the speed of charging and voila! we witnessed the dawn of fast charging. In this post I would like to discuss on the working of fast charging, myths surrounding it and its applications.

What is fast charging per-Se?

      Fast charging enables you to charge a device at a faster rate in just a fraction of time that it took to do so in the old standard way. As cool as it sounds, there are different types of fast chargers for different types of devices; it is basically determined by power rating of the circuit in the device. 

     In order to understand fast charging first we have to know the basics of power rating. A power output of any charger is measured in terms of Watts which is literally the product of voltage and current. Moving further, most fast charging manufacturers amplify either the current or the voltage in the output of the charger to increase the power delivered to the circuit. 

      Previously, standard USB 3.0 ports delivered an output of 5V at 1A and this took forever to charge a device. A standard wall mount charger supports up to 5V at 2.4amps which also takes hours to fully charge a phone. But on the other hand, the fast charging has leaped into the ranges of 5V-12V at up to 4amps which charges a device fully at about 50% of the time it takes on a standard charger. 

       Although, an important point to be remembered here is that; even on a fast charging enabled device, you would need a fast charger of the same rating to charge the device or else it will charge at a normal rate. ie. if your device rating is 5V/4A, then your fast charger rating should also be 5V/4A in order to trigger fast charging.

Myths surrounding the fast charging

     People were initially skeptical towards fast charging as it was mistaken that it might over-charge/heat your device. It was also construed that connecting a fast charger to other devices may cause it to explode! But the matter of fact is that, the fast charging as well as device manufacturers build safety circuits in both charger and the device in order to protect it from over-charging and heating. 

     Remember that, your phone was manufactured with a fixed rating and it can only consume so much power that it was initially designed for. Therefore, even if you connect a standard non fast chargeable device of 5V/2.4A to a fast charger of 5V/4A; your device would automatically take in only 5V/2.4A which it was designed for. Thus, in order for fast charging to work, the device should host a charging circuit with fast charging standards and, an adapter and a cable designed for such ratings.

Applications of fast charging

      We are already using fast charging on our mobiles which has made our life way easier than before. Companies like Qualcomm with its Quick Charge, MediaTek with its Pump Express, OnePlus with their Dash charging and many more flagship device manufacturers have already implemented fast charging in the devices that roll out today. 

        In addition to that, Power Banks these days have been equipped with at-least one port supporting the fast charging. 

      Further more, Multi-port chargers from Aukey, Mivi, etc. have incorporated multiple fast charging ports supporting up to 8A distributed to all the ports.

       Apart from that, fast charging has also fairly been implemented in wireless charging facilities. While most wireless chargers are pretty slow due to the limitations in cooling system at action; the fast charging wireless pads are now equipped with inbuilt fans to dissipate heat.