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Wireless power system could be just a year away
For a few years now the idea of wireless power has been a shining light in the lives of gadgeteers, whose homes resemble cable repositories. At the TED Global 2009 conference this week, it got one step closer. Eric Giler, chief executive of Witricity unveiled the concept which is based on an idea by MIT's Marin Soljacic and exploits the resonance of low frequency electromagnetic waves.
The system uses two coils, one at the mains and one on the gadget, both of which have been engineered with the same resonant frequency. When connected up to an electricity supply, the mains coil produces a magnetic field that resonates with the second coil, allowing voltage to build up to power the gadget. The technology could even be used for electric cars, which could be charged up from a mat placed beneath its wheels in the garage.
Giler showed off a TV and two phones — a Google G1 and an iPhone — which had been adapted to use the technology. He did, however, admit that the Cupertino product had been a harder nut to crack. "They don't make it easy at Apple to get inside their phones so we put a little sleeve on the back," he said. There had even, he added, been a proposal for an electrically-heated dog bowl. "You go from the sublime to the ridiculous."
Via BBC News
By Jwb52z at 7:07 AM ON 07/24/09
How can the coils be hooked up to an electricity supply without wires? I was hoping this would TRULY be wireless. I was thinking it would be making electricity from thin air. That would be the only true 100 percent wireless. Everything is only what amounts to beiing secondarily wireless. If it ever needs to be plugged in to anything close to a standard outlet, that's not wireless, just like wireless internet isn't really wireless because the router has to be plugged into a wall outlet.
By tekkblade at 8:35 AM ON 07/24/09
Jwb52Z - by your definition of wireless there is nothing that is truly wireless. nothing comes from thin air, NOT EVEN AIR. The point of this wireless would be that all your portable electronics would run off of one charging station, rather than each device having its own charger.
By Bob Monkeypimp at 9:09 AM ON 07/24/09
@Jwb52z F*cks sake, stop being so pedantic.. If it was down to you wifi would be renamed HAGWBEHW-fi (Has Actually Got Wires Because Everything Has Wires-Fi).
Get a girlfriend! (Preferably one without wires (or batteries)).
By BWayne at 9:09 AM ON 07/24/09
Jwb52z, they've had free wireless electricity for millenia. It's called "Static Electricity". You can often see it by rubbing your feet on a carpet and then touching a door knob, especially if the air is dry. Unfortunately, tekkblade's right. You're dumb.
By anonymouse at 10:30 AM ON 07/24/09
Yay more invisible magnetic fields silently being exposed to us. As if cell phones, wifi, cell towers, radio towers isn't enough
By Cheyenne at 5:34 PM ON 07/24/09
Er... This ISN'T new... Nikola Tesla thought this up! Why is THIS guy claiming credit for the idea???
By Anonymous at 7:18 PM ON 07/24/09
Er... This ISN'T new... Nikola Tesla thought this up! Why is THIS guy claiming credit for the idea???
Ya what he said Tesla had it way before this guy.
By Hellfist at 7:19 PM ON 07/24/09
Er... This ISN'T new... Nikola Tesla thought this up! Why is THIS guy claiming credit for the idea???
Ya what he said Tesla had it way before this guy.
By Deano at 2:51 AM ON 07/25/09
He explains transformers as being wireless electricity transfer....Transformers work through magnetic fields, Its called Inductance. if you generate a magnetic field strong enough to travel any distance then you will have cellular damage to humans/living organisms. Magnetic fields have been proven to cause damage.
Static Electricity is not an applicable means of transferring energy because it currently cannot be generated to produce the amperage required to power anything. I(amperage)=E(voltage) divided by P(wattage). Ohms law
By bowzee at 9:18 AM ON 07/26/09
I smell fried bacon !!!
By jay trini at 5:09 AM ON 07/27/09
Cheyenne is right. Tesla not only had the idea but he had working demonstrations. However, if this guy has the destiny to commercialize the idea then 'bravo'.
By Wireless Electricity at 7:34 PM ON 07/27/09
Excited to see the wireless power supply becoming the reality. I think it will be several years, before all devices will have in-built wireless charger
By Jay An at 7:37 PM ON 07/27/09
Excited to see the wireless power supply becoming the reality. I think it will be several years, before all devices will have in-built wireless charger
By I call bullshit at 8:48 PM ON 07/27/09
I have a prediction. THis will go nowhere, just as wireless power hasn't gone anywhere for 100 years since Tesla first envisioned it.
I will even bookmark this page, and if in a year it still exists, we'll see!
By dy/dt at 4:37 AM ON 07/29/09
Er... This ISN'T new... Nikola Tesla thought this up! Why is THIS guy claiming credit for the idea???
I will triple ditto Cheyenne's comment. Tesla did first work on this idea, but if I am not mistaken, he was working with higher freq RF, not VLF. In point of fact NASA and some of its research partners have 'future tech' projects that revolove around space based power stations (solar) that will beam power back to earth via microwave. In my opinion a more dicy propostion than this guy's. (Don't want to accidently fly through that!)
But I will also agree with "I call bs" in that this will go no where commercially.
By lasmart613 at 4:03 PM ON 08/22/09
Deano. You have it backwards. I=P/E
Not I =E/P
...and it's Watt's Law, not Ohm's Law.
Ohm's law is E=IR
By stanleyy at 1:33 AM ON 09/23/09
well maybe you guys should check this out:
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/143945
its as hot as i am in a nuthugger thong, mind you.
on your cellphone!
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stanleyy:
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