etaLINK (inductive wireless charging system)

Wiferion produces a contactless wireless charging system (etaLINK) that transfers electrical energy through a high frequency magnetic field (induction) over an air gap to charge electrical vehicles in the intralogistics industry autonomously. The etaLINK system is available in a 3 kW and 12 kW version, can be modular combined and is with an 93 % efficiency comparable to the best traditional cable charging systems.
The contactless charging systems allows self-driving robots and AGVs as well as industrial trucks (manual or autonomous) a fully automated charging. The pads can charge any kind of batteries (e.g. lead-acid, lithium-ion) with the same charging station as it can provide different voltages (15-120 Volt). This means, that different industrial e-vehicles can use the same charging systems. The e-vehicles can be charge with high power during short breaks without any human intervention and therefore eliminate costly charging breaks. By creating an “In-Process-Charging” the fleet availability will be increased and the battery size will be reduced which is an additional costs reduction. The charging starts in less than 1 second with full power and turns on automatically whenever a vehicle arrives. As there is no physical contact between the components the system has no wear and tear and requires no maintenance. The system allows easy integration into the factory or warehouse - even outside due to IP 69 - without any large infrastructure work and can therefore rearranged if the layout changes. The cloud-based data collecting software etaHUB with CAN-connectivity gathers all relevant information to manage the fleets.

Reference Customers:

KUKA, STIL, LINDIG (LINDE), ASTI

Ready-to-use interfaces to other tools and systems:

integrated CAN-Communication, universal API to support all standard fleet management system such as Siemens mindsphere, SAP Industrial Cloud,blue botics ant control, multiple customer specific API to transfer data of the vehicle over the cloud

History:

2020: etaHUB

The etaHUB cloud solution and the CAN bus gives access to all relevant data of the vehicel and the battery. The software allows predictive maintenance, condition monitoring and therefore optimized fleet management. Full release date planned end of 2020.

2020: etaLINK 12000

Market introduction of the 12 kW system with the following features: charging power: 12.000 watt; charging voltage 15-120 volt; charging current up to 100-400 amperes; protection class 65 & 68; optimum distance 15-40 mm; position tolerance +/- 70 mm. Winner: LogiMAT Award 2020: „Bestes Produkt“.

2019: etaTRAY

Plug-and-play energy systems to retrofit your industrial trucks. Ready to retrofit kit including an etaLINK charging system combined with a state of-the-art lithium-ion-battery systems. Available for all standard industrial truck battery trays with battery capacities of 100–240 Ah.

2018: etaLINK 3000

Start of serial production of the 3 kW System with the following features: charging power: 3.000 watt; charging voltage 15-60 volt; charging current from 15 up to 60 amperes; protection class 65 & 68; optimum distance 15-40 mm; position tolerance +/- 30 mm. Winner: IFOY Award 2020 – Bestes Start-up.

General information:

Business Unit: Logistics
Branch: Logistics
Type: Product
Patented: No
GFFT Rank: 13.06

Contact of the Organization:

Wiferion GmbH
Munziger Strasse 1
79111 Freiburg
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 71 154 267 0
Email: