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Gopi Akkinepally
Wireless Power Marketing Manager
Published: May 12, 2018

A few weeks ago, I was playing with the LG PJ9B in the office. It is an awe-inspiring portable Bluetooth speaker with a subwoofer base. With the click of a button on the subwoofer base, the speaker slowly rises and levitates in the air, making a sound similar to Star Trek movie score. The subwoofer has a built-in wireless charging transmitter, and the speaker has a wireless charging receiver. Although it looks like something out of a science fiction movie, powerful magnets hold the Bluetooth speaker in the air. Everyone in our office loves this levitating speaker, and out of curiosity we extensively tested its levitation capability by waving our hands between it and the subwoofer and placing small objects underneath it. The levitation technology works as steadily and reliably as our wireless charging technology.

Wireless charging plays a crucial role in this product as it would have been inconvenient and expensive to ship two power adapters in the box — one each for the subwoofer and speaker. Additionally, it would be awkward and inelegant to charge a levitating wireless speaker with a wired charger.

Wireless charging helps achieve the waterproof design of the speaker, as well. Many people carry this delightfully small Bluetooth speaker to recreation spots where there is a chance for water to splash on the speaker accidentally. Waterproofing comes in very handy for portable speakers, but the waterproofing specifications can sometimes be deceiving. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) developed an ingress protection marking (IP Code) standard which helps device manufacturers specify the level of protection a device provides from dust and water. Wireless charging enables portable devices, such as Bluetooth speakers, to achieve higher water and dustproof ratings. Because the PJ9B Bluetooth speaker does not need charging ports, it had a leg up in passing the IP Code tests. LG’s PJ9B earned an IPX7 IP Code and can be immersed up to 1m water depth for 30 minutes.

Another futuristic feature of the speaker is that it smoothly lands on the subwoofer to start charging without any user intervention. I feel that more smart gadgets, such as drones and robotic vacuums, will greatly benefit from this kind of feature. Our enthusiastic team is working hard to help provide the convenience of wireless charging to millions of consumers.

Check out our complete portfolio of wireless power Rx and Tx solutions, reference designs and technical resources at renesas.com/wirelesspower.

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