Explained: Smartphone Fast-Chargers, And How Fast Charging Works
The importance of smartphones and our dependency on them is not something that needs explanation. It would be hard to even imagine a day without them. We need it and also want it almost throughout the day. And an important component of smartphones that lead to them being used for a long time and remotely is their battery. With most smartphones having battery backup for almost the whole day.
The importance of smartphones and our dependency seldom needs explanation. It would be hard to even imagine a day without them. We need it and also want it almost throughout the day. And an important component of smartphones that lead to them being used for a long time and remotely is their battery.
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With most smartphones having battery backup for almost the whole day, charging them almost always is painstakingly slow. However, a recent phenomenon of fast charging has made things much easier for users. Most smartphones, especially the recent ones with fast charging get a full charge in under an hour.
What is fast charging?
Fast charging's popularity is due to rising phone usage, with many people needing to recharge their phones many times each day. It's also a requirement as phone sizes increase year after year, larger batteries are required to keep up with the increased power usage. We'd have to wait hours for our phones to charge if they didn't have rapid charging.
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Fast charging, as the name suggests, is a function that allows a user to charge his or her smartphone in less time than one would with a standard device. Fast charging refers to the process of delivering more power to the smartphone in a short amount of time. The number of watts (W) entering the smartphone's battery is raised during fast charging.
How fast charging works
The fast charging process can be divided into three stages:
Stage 1 ¨C Constant Current: Voltage increases towards its peak, while current stays constant at a high level. This is the phase where a lot of power is quickly delivered to the device.
Stage 2 ¨C Saturation: This is the phase where the voltage has reached its peak and the current drops down.
Stage 3 ¨C Trickle/Topping: The battery is fully charged. In this phase, the power will either slowly trickle in, or will periodically charge a low ¡°topping¡± amount as the phone consumes battery.
Fast charging works on the same concept as conventional charging, but the amount of electrical power (Ampere) converted and sent over the cable is substantially larger. The voltage of a common adaptor ranges from 2 volts to 4.2 volts, with a low electrical transfer rate. A fast-charging adaptor, on the other hand, can build a significantly higher voltage (5V-12V) and transfer electricity much faster until the battery reaches its maximum voltage capacity.
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To swiftly charge the battery, it pumps as much current (Amperes) as it can. Many of us may wonder as to why high voltages do not harm the battery. As the fast charging devices have a higher peak voltage capacity batteries and specially designed ICs the electronic controller which drops down the voltage intakes to prevent battery damage, so it can handle pretty high voltages with ease. Fast charging is most successful when the battery percentage is below 50% because these devices often have an 80 percent peak voltage capacity.
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Difference in fast charging speeds
When charging from a USB port, the average smartphone receives about 2.5W to 6W. Fast chargers increase that amount by almost 10 times, with some reaching 120W. Not all phones support fast charging, and not all chargers are fast chargers. One will need a charger and a phone that supports fast charging for fast charging to operate.
There are two stages of fast charging. A greater voltage boosts the charging rate in the first phase. This phase is used by fast charging chargers to increase power flow. When the battery has received the majority of its charge, the charger reduces the voltage to prevent overheating or overcharging, assuring the safety of both smartphone and charger.
There¡¯s also the emergence of wireless fast charging. Without effective thermal control, transmitting huge quantities of power wirelessly can become harmful. Because technology companies are still working out how to regulate the heat, wireless charging is still much slower than conventional charging.
