Al writes "Last Thursday researchers from Intel demonstrated a way to recharge electronics from about meter away using a 'resonant' magnetic field. At an event held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, the researchers showed off a pair of iPod speakers connected to a 30-centimeter-wide copper coil that received power from a similar, but larger, copper coil about a meter away. The recharging technique relies on a phenomenon called resonant coupling, in which objects can exchange energy when tuned to resonate at the same frequency. A similar approach was developed by researchers at MIT in 2007, and spun off into a company called WiTricity. This company has already developed a few products that use resonant coupling to recharge, including a car battery."
About a century ago. 1894 [wikipedia.org] according to Wikipedia. With a patent in 1897. Good to know that Edison's [wikipedia.org] megalomania [lifehack.org] only held us back for a century.
Wireless power loses energy, so the only places it makes sense are were wires can't go or batteries can't easily be replaced.
It's also useful for small devices that would be safer without exposed contacts. Electric toothbrushes are the first thing that come to mind, though I'm sure there are plenty of better examples.
Seriously, this is nothing more than a simple application of a simple science experiment.
Wireless fields / broadcasts are a joke, and until we change the laws of physics, always will be. (Directed transmissions are not a joke.)
I was doing this as a kid in the sixties with a one transistor radio powered by rf from the local broadcast station. The radio had two tuned circuits - one for receiving power, one for tuning to the station. It's exactly the same principle used here. So now we get thousands of new sources of radio frequency interference from these chargers! Thanks a lot.
At an event held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, the researchers showed off a pair of iPod speakers connected to a 30-centimeter-wide copper coil that received power from a similar, but larger, copper coil about a meter away.
I'm having a little trouble here with the concept. Instead of small white box plugged into the wall we have these freaking huge copper wires running in circles everywhere. Just doesn't jibe with the trendy iPod image.
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things?
Not only is it completely impractical, not only it is not original, another much more practical contact-free charging method has been in widespread use for over 10 years. Inductance charging is reasonably efficient and very handy for waterproofing rechargeable devices, like my Panasonic shaver [thegourmetdepotco.com] (link to charger image). Not nearly the range of "resonant charging", but all the other advantages apply, and no tumors or pacemaker failures.
Did you mean "the RESISTANCE of the cord is nothing compared to the impedance of the transmission mechanism"? Impedance is ideally lossless... the reduction in current comes from capacitance and inductance which only store and redirect current instead of turning it into heat like resistance does.
And your nitpick doesn't make any sense either. Just because one part of a transmission line is super conducting doesn't mean it all is. It's like switching between different resistance cables in your
what is the power consumption of the transmitting coil when there is no load coil, also, does the power consumption increase or decrease based on the number of receiving coils??
and, what happens if you place a HDD, or your phone contains a HDD and is charged using this method, wont the magnetic field damage the magnetic media??
similarly, magnetic fields can mess up CRT's, try taking a magnet to a CRT screen..
you're surrounded by magnetic fields, whether it's from the power wiring in the house you live in or your wifi access point.
I'm guessing that the most significant reason why they have antennas that size is because they're trying to -not- have it interfere with things (well, your old microwave will still do that, but you can't do too much about that aside from replace it).
The threat from magnetic fields comes from strong magnetic fields (it polarizes the atoms). This is why magnets around CRTs is a bad idea
what happens if you place a HDD, or your phone contains a HDD and is charged using this method, wont the magnetic field damage the magnetic media??
Most HDD's are pretty well shielded, nowadays. Remember also that the receiving coil (in this case) is a 707 cm^2 wire coil, while the surface area of the hard drive in the magnetic field is likely no more than a few cm^2. (The energy absorbed by an object in this situation is proportional to its surface area in the plane perpendicular to the electric field, among other things.)
does the power consumption increase or decrease based on the number of receiving coils??
The power consumption in the primary would increase. Given the case of two coupled inductors (the two coils seen here), a mutual
Well, in reality CRT's are pretty much on their way out these days. Sure there are some uses for them, but they're somewhat specialized now. I haven't seen a CRT monitor on a store shelf in years. If you go to an online retailer they might have a FEW of them (Newegg currently lists ONE CRT monitor and 215 LCD monitors) but at roughly equivalent prices to LCD's (and any minor price advantage is usually offset by a higher shipping cost). The ones that ARE still out there working for regular home use have a
....it's called 'using batteries'. With a 3 meter range and relatively huge copper coils involved, how is this better that using batteries? Most devices use a transformer to customize the input for the device. With wireless power, would each device need some kind of special wireless receiver/transformer? And this would be better how?
Um, this wasn't touted as a replacement for batteries. It was touted as a replacement for charging cables. IE, when I get home I throw my cell phone on the desk and it starts charging, rather than having to plug it into a cord.
Personally, I CAN see some benefit to that concept. Not the least of which is that I just plain forgot to plug in my phone sometimes, but I ALWAYS sit it on the desk when I get home. It would also just clear up some of the clutter (I'm up to 4 different cables sitting on my desk now - a generic USB extension, a mini-USB connector, a cell phone charger, and an iPod connector).
That said, every wireless power transmission scheme I've seen was EXTREMELY inefficient. Unless the technology could be made to work in the same ballpark efficiency as our current wired methods, I just don't see it as a good long term solution. If it was just a case though of "Yeah, we figured it out. Want one?" though then I'd be first in line.
They are using a 7Mhz transmission for the power, so the receiver antenna needs to be roughly 10m long [hottconsultants.com] (1/4 wavelength). If they cranked up the frequency into the gigahertz range it would allow for a smaller receiver, but lower efficiency I guess.
It's not a replacement for batteries, it's a replacement for cables. Right now, even battery-powered devices need cables once the charge in the battery is used up. I'd love wireless power, to be able to ditch the rat's nest of cables I have everywhere going to every appliance and device. Unfortunately, I would guess that wireless power technologies would generally be (a) inefficient; (b) unreliable; (c) dangerous; or (d) some combination of the above.
So when I get home today, I have a 'recharging' station where everything from my Wiimotes to my iPod get set so they can be plugged in and recharged. Each item has its own charger, with accompanying wall wart, and its own cord. I've attempted, in the past, to come up with 'stylist' ways over hiding this mess. LifeHacker had has many articles on building 'pretty' recharging stations, but nothing I've tried comes close to looking like anything more than a high tech tentacle monster attempti
Did they ensure that the iPod speakers were properly shielded against RDF interference? Now that Jobs is getting his strength back, I fully expect that Apple devices will discard with batteries completely and just feed off his sheer willpower.
Nikola Tesla and that crazy discovery of wireless energy transfer. Next time you power up your gizmo (via AC to DC conversion) raise a glass to the man who started it all!
So in this era of concern about energy supplies, we have a new way to charge our phones that is less efficient and will waste a ton of energy. But at least we won't trip over any cables.
how much energy are we saving by not manufacturing and eventually disposing of those cables?
Also keep in mind that it's 80% efficiency at distance, I'm sure it's higher at close range (eg: a charge plate on your night stand that your phone sits pretty much directly on) and once the technology is being mass produced, just like every other product on the planet improvements will be made to improve it's efficiency over time.
just because it's not perfect RIGHT NOW doesn't mean it wont be, but making it RI
I read about this sort of thing awhile ago. http://www.pwrmat.com/ [pwrmat.com]
There would be some nifty applications, you could build this sort of power distribution system into a wall. Then you just have to be within the proximity of the distributor. It would primarily be a convince/lazy thing, but at least you wouldn't have to worry about your kid putting a fork in a wall socket.
Then again by doing that you could be removing a natural selection factor and end up with even more stupid people that otherwise would h
There are at least four schemes for short-range wireless power transmission around. This needs to be standardized so it can be deployed.
The very short range ones, which couple a tabletop pad to a device on it, would be most useful. All the little stuff that needs recharging should be on the same system, with recharging pads in bedroom, office, hotel room, car, airline tray table, Starbucks, etc. Unless the players get together and agree on a standard, this is going nowhere.
Powercast recognizes there are several alternatives available for powering devices without the use of wires, each with different addressable markets. The alternative methods may seem similar on the surface, however, they offer limited solutions. Powercast is the only company with the technology and component-level products to deliver continuous charging, and provide its capability at a scalable distance.
The New Palm Pre does this now, just not across a large distance. The Pre has the alternate charger that you just place your Pre on (no wires to hook up or plug in to the Pre itself) and it charges through the back of the phone. Pretty cool, actually.
As a long time listener of Garage Logic on AM1500 (I only had AM in my car growing up, go fig) they frequently refer to a guy named Samer (sp?). He had a theory that the reason people, as a whole, have lost it, is that all the electromagnetic noise and radiation we have created litterally is frying out brain's ability to function normally.
With all this talk about wireless charging and what I see in the world, I am starting to wonder if this Samer theory has legs... and if so what are the implications on hum
When I was a kid, I had an electric toothbrush that charged via induction. Not the same thing this article is about but it seemed like magic at the time. Set the plastic toothbrush in its plastic base with no metallic contacts on either and it would charge. I was just a kid but even I knew you needed conductive material to conduct electricity and plastic wasn't conductive. (I thought my grandpa was pulling my leg and taking the battery out and charging it at night while I was asleep.)
Make it cheap enough and combine this with cheap electronic paper and we could have store aisles stocked with animated labels on anything big enough to carry a receiving antenna.
If you think walking with your child down the gauntlet that is the cereal aisle is bad now...
A company I worked for was charging the batteries in medical implants in this manner 10 years ago. In fact, the implant's charge coil is inside its Titanium case. The magnetic field goes right through the case. The charger had a class E amplifier. It worked very well. I would not doubt if this company already has a patent on this technique.
Pacemakers? (Score:3, Interesting)
Pacemakers lol?
Seriously, this is nothing more than a simple application of a simple science experiment.
Wireless fields / broadcasts are a joke, and until we change the laws of physics, always will be. (Directed transmissions are not a joke.)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Wireless power loses energy, so the only places it makes sense are were wires can't go or batteries can't easily be replaced.
It's also useful for small devices that would be safer without exposed contacts. Electric toothbrushes are the first thing that come to mind, though I'm sure there are plenty of better examples.
Re:Pacemakers? (Score:4, Insightful)
Pacemakers lol?
If you think replacing a battery on an iPhone is hard, try replacing your own pacemaker battery.
Parent
Re:Pacemakers? (Score:5, Funny)
I saw a documentary called Iron Man where this was done.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
You jest, but it's actually easier than an iPod.
Pacemaker people often get leads for recharging, or an easy-access flap for replacement. You can even charge through the skin.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Pacemakers lol?
Seriously, this is nothing more than a simple application of a simple science experiment.
Wireless fields / broadcasts are a joke, and until we change the laws of physics, always will be. (Directed transmissions are not a joke.)
I was doing this as a kid in the sixties with a one transistor radio powered by rf from the local broadcast station. The radio had two tuned circuits - one for receiving power, one for tuning to the station. It's exactly the same principle used here. So now we get thousands of new sources of radio frequency interference from these chargers! Thanks a lot.
Intel expects this technology will be a hard sell (Score:2, Funny)
As everyone's credit cards were erased during the demo.
They did expect users with paper currency and PMs would be more open to purchase.
Oh this is going to look cool (Score:5, Funny)
I'm having a little trouble here with the concept. Instead of small white box plugged into the wall we have these freaking huge copper wires running in circles everywhere. Just doesn't jibe with the trendy iPod image.
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things?
Re:Oh this is going to look cool (Score:5, Funny)
Just paint the copper wires white.
Parent
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Dumb question... (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't resonant vibration the way tons of energy transfers occur, including plain old radio communication?
What makes this so novel?
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80% power efficiency.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Obviously nothing is 100% efficient...
Actually super conductors are. They really have zero resistance. Unfortunately the temperatures involved mean that they are not very practical.
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um... what?
Did you mean "the RESISTANCE of the cord is nothing compared to the impedance of the transmission mechanism"? Impedance is ideally lossless... the reduction in current comes from capacitance and inductance which only store and redirect current instead of turning it into heat like resistance does.
And your nitpick doesn't make any sense either. Just because one part of a transmission line is super conducting doesn't mean it all is. It's like switching between different resistance cables in your
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
power consumption (Score:4, Interesting)
what is the power consumption of the transmitting coil when there is no load coil, also, does the power consumption increase or decrease based on the number of receiving coils??
and, what happens if you place a HDD, or your phone contains a HDD and is charged using this method, wont the magnetic field damage the magnetic media??
similarly, magnetic fields can mess up CRT's, try taking a magnet to a CRT screen..
Re: (Score:2)
you're surrounded by magnetic fields, whether it's from the power wiring in the house you live in or your wifi access point.
I'm guessing that the most significant reason why they have antennas that size is because they're trying to -not- have it interfere with things (well, your old microwave will still do that, but you can't do too much about that aside from replace it).
The threat from magnetic fields comes from strong magnetic fields (it polarizes the atoms). This is why magnets around CRTs is a bad idea
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
what happens if you place a HDD, or your phone contains a HDD and is charged using this method, wont the magnetic field damage the magnetic media??
Most HDD's are pretty well shielded, nowadays. Remember also that the receiving coil (in this case) is a 707 cm^2 wire coil, while the surface area of the hard drive in the magnetic field is likely no more than a few cm^2. (The energy absorbed by an object in this situation is proportional to its surface area in the plane perpendicular to the electric field, among other things.)
does the power consumption increase or decrease based on the number of receiving coils??
The power consumption in the primary would increase. Given the case of two coupled inductors (the two coils seen here), a mutual
Re: (Score:2)
Well, in reality CRT's are pretty much on their way out these days. Sure there are some uses for them, but they're somewhat specialized now. I haven't seen a CRT monitor on a store shelf in years. If you go to an online retailer they might have a FEW of them (Newegg currently lists ONE CRT monitor and 215 LCD monitors) but at roughly equivalent prices to LCD's (and any minor price advantage is usually offset by a higher shipping cost). The ones that ARE still out there working for regular home use have a
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
And what about humans.
You know that our brain and nerves work electromagnetically, and many processes in our body do not expect a strong magnetic field on the outside.
A weak field, OK. But a strong one will be bad. So the question is: How strong is still OK, and is the one who defines this trustworthy?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Nicola Tesla (Score:3, Funny)
NicolaTesla [teslasociety.com]
he was recharging his ipod!!!
Already have wireless power.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Already have wireless power.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Um, this wasn't touted as a replacement for batteries. It was touted as a replacement for charging cables. IE, when I get home I throw my cell phone on the desk and it starts charging, rather than having to plug it into a cord.
Personally, I CAN see some benefit to that concept. Not the least of which is that I just plain forgot to plug in my phone sometimes, but I ALWAYS sit it on the desk when I get home. It would also just clear up some of the clutter (I'm up to 4 different cables sitting on my desk now - a generic USB extension, a mini-USB connector, a cell phone charger, and an iPod connector).
That said, every wireless power transmission scheme I've seen was EXTREMELY inefficient. Unless the technology could be made to work in the same ballpark efficiency as our current wired methods, I just don't see it as a good long term solution. If it was just a case though of "Yeah, we figured it out. Want one?" though then I'd be first in line.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
They are using a 7Mhz transmission for the power, so the receiver antenna needs to be roughly 10m long [hottconsultants.com] (1/4 wavelength). If they cranked up the frequency into the gigahertz range it would allow for a smaller receiver, but lower efficiency I guess.
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Re:Already have wireless power.... (Score:4, Insightful)
FTFA:
"the type of radiation shared between the two coils is nonradiative,"
which I take to mean 'no more than a few Watts of power are involved', which is fine for mobile phones and the like I suppose.
Parent
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Re: (Score:2)
It's not a replacement for batteries, it's a replacement for cables. Right now, even battery-powered devices need cables once the charge in the battery is used up. I'd love wireless power, to be able to ditch the rat's nest of cables I have everywhere going to every appliance and device. Unfortunately, I would guess that wireless power technologies would generally be (a) inefficient; (b) unreliable; (c) dangerous; or (d) some combination of the above.
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SAMPLE APPLICATION:
Test for other sources (Score:5, Funny)
Efficiency? (Score:3, Insightful)
Anybody familiar with the efficiency of this process? What fraction of the wattage is lost during transfer?
We owe thanks to.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Nikola Tesla and that crazy discovery of wireless energy transfer. Next time you power up your gizmo (via AC to DC conversion) raise a glass to the man who started it all!
Wasted Energy (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Also keep in mind that it's 80% efficiency at distance, I'm sure it's higher at close range (eg: a charge plate on your night stand that your phone sits pretty much directly on) and once the technology is being mass produced, just like every other product on the planet improvements will be made to improve it's efficiency over time.
just because it's not perfect RIGHT NOW doesn't mean it wont be, but making it RI
useful, but dangerous (Score:2, Funny)
We need a standard for this (Score:4, Insightful)
There are at least four schemes for short-range wireless power transmission around. This needs to be standardized so it can be deployed.
The very short range ones, which couple a tabletop pad to a device on it, would be most useful. All the little stuff that needs recharging should be on the same system, with recharging pads in bedroom, office, hotel room, car, airline tray table, Starbucks, etc. Unless the players get together and agree on a standard, this is going nowhere.
Powercast released wireless power products in 2007 (Score:2)
http://www.powercastco.com/ [powercastco.com]
They even won a best of CES 2007 award from CNET:
http:// [cnet.com]
Tesla would be proud. (Score:2, Funny)
New Palm Pre does this now (Score:2)
The New Palm Pre does this now, just not across a large distance. The Pre has the alternate charger that you just place your Pre on (no wires to hook up or plug in to the Pre itself) and it charges through the back of the phone. Pretty cool, actually.
Samer Theory? (Score:2)
As a long time listener of Garage Logic on AM1500 (I only had AM in my car growing up, go fig) they frequently refer to a guy named Samer (sp?). He had a theory that the reason people, as a whole, have lost it, is that all the electromagnetic noise and radiation we have created litterally is frying out brain's ability to function normally.
With all this talk about wireless charging and what I see in the world, I am starting to wonder if this Samer theory has legs... and if so what are the implications on hum
Induction FTW (Score:2)
When I was a kid, I had an electric toothbrush that charged via induction. Not the same thing this article is about but it seemed like magic at the time. Set the plastic toothbrush in its plastic base with no metallic contacts on either and it would charge. I was just a kid but even I knew you needed conductive material to conduct electricity and plastic wasn't conductive. (I thought my grandpa was pulling my leg and taking the battery out and charging it at night while I was asleep.)
No real porn use, so it's on to advertising (Score:2)
Make it cheap enough and combine this with cheap electronic paper and we could have store aisles stocked with animated labels on anything big enough to carry a receiving antenna.
If you think walking with your child down the gauntlet that is the cereal aisle is bad now...
charging dish (Score:2)
I can imagine a dish or plate on top of your dresser where you can throw your ipod, phone etc at night and it charges without having to plug it in.
Nikola Tesla, thou art avenged! (Score:2)
Hmmm. Resonant coupling, magnetic fields, wireless power transmission, where have I heard this before [wikipedia.org]?
Nothing new here (Score:4, Informative)