Wireless Electricity

[admin]

We knew it was just a matter of time. Wireless electricity. Next will come transporters, food replicators and then, finally, the holodeck - and you know I'm never leaving my house once that arrives. A group of scientists at MIT have demonstrated what they are tentatively calling "WiTricity" - the ability to send significant amounts of electricity through the air without the use of wires. For many this has been the holy grail of achievements and could signal a new revolutionary wave of development in the consumer electronics industry.

Discuss "Wireless Electricity" here. Read the article.

 

[dhoffack]

Whats the big deal? Nikola Tesla already did this only about 80 years ago. Taking credit for an 80 year old idea, how inventive.

Dan

 

[avaserfi]

Whats the big deal? Nikola Tesla already did this only about 80 years ago. Taking credit for an 80 year old idea, how inventive.

Dan

I think the difference is its not visible, meaning people aren't scared of it. Most people are about what they can sense and this they cant.

On the plus side imagine the joy, no more power cords to deal with, only downside is...more interference.

 

[Adam]

I'm curious as to the power requirements. It seems like they are proposing to have these systems radiate into a large volume (like a room), and that takes power whether devices within the field are using it or not. So, instead of needing 60 W to light a bulb, it will require significantly more unless it can somehow recover the radiated energy that isn't absorbed (now, that would be cool).

On a side note, my brother brought up the idea to me years ago to implement inductive power on a large scale within homes for this exact purpose, but we both knew that neither of us would spend enough effort to get it going. I'm glad that someone is working on it.

 

[Haoleb]

think how in-efficient a standard transformer is. Now think how in efficient this would be.

 

[Audioholics]

Yes, it's likely not going to replace standard power supplies, however inefficiency doesn't matter as much for the particular purpose of providing a convenience service.

 

[Warpdrv]

Im not sure I'll be converting my 15 and 20 hp three phase motors over to wireless... Its bad enough my electric bill is like vaporware at $2000+ a month...

 

[alphadog]

A better (marginally) reference, instead of the Daily Mail one, can be found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6725955.stm

They mention efficiency is 40%. Hmm. And, no, it's not like a microwave, although they would want to underplay any potential hazards.

At least they mention Tesla. Also, this has been around for a while. What I wonder about is: I already have enough of people trying to piggyback on my wi-fi for free, now how am I going to stop them sucking into my power bill?

 

[JackT]

Whats the big deal? Nikola Tesla already did this only about 80 years ago. Taking credit for an 80 year old idea, how inventive.

Dan

Exactly my thoughts. Tesla did a huge amount of research on this. Also, this "development" is no more or less visible than what Tesla did. You can put a cover over anything.

 

[DavidW]

Whats the big deal? Nikola Tesla already did this only about 80 years ago. Taking credit for an 80 year old idea, how inventive.

Dan

The idea is much older, and research and invention that lead into actual implementation is over 100 years old. Tesla began planning his research facility in 1898, Wardenclyffe Tower, which began construction in 1901 with the intent to demonstrate this as well as predating cellular phones, and a number of other modern technologies.

As stated, wireless transmission of power is not a new idea and Tesla is unfortunately often neglected for his many contributions that were far ahead of their time.

For more information on Tesla's many and much earlier contributions please see:

Wardenclyffe Tower

Nikola Tesla

Wireless Energy Transfer:Tesla Effect

If one can't come up with a new idea, steal an old one and hope no one notices the similarities.

 

[mike c]

Im not sure I'll be converting my 15 and 20 hp three phase motors over to wireless... Its bad enough my electric bill is like vaporware at $2000+ a month...

is that a typo or are you really paying 2k per month?

 

[skizzerflake]

Tesla was amazingly visionary. He pretty much invented electricity as we know it, having developed the technology to step up and down alternating current for long distance transmission and having invented the first usable AC motor. Edison wanted to use 10 volt DC current, requiring a generator every few city blocks and Westinghouse wanted to bring 2000 volt AC into households (imagine touching the toaster with 2K volts). Tesla's transmitted power, however, would have been quite interesting. Broadcasting that much power would have caused every nearby metal object to be crawling with current.

Apparently these guys are thinking about being able to recharge personal electronics or run low current gadgets at a moderate distance. That sounds quite interesting and not as scary as wirelessly running thousands of houses. My bet is that in 10 years I will look back at the outlet with all of the wall warts and tangled wires recharging the four cell phones and 3 media players in my house as being as quaint as a 10 pound 30 megabyte hard disk.

 

[emorphien]

I've mentioned this to friends in the past and brought it up for a few years. Not particularly complicated but I pretty much envisioned a small table top surface you could stick your cell phone, camera, MP3 player etc on and have them charge.

Nice to see someone with more time on their hands is pushing it towards reality, although this won't make the magnetic field voodoo worriers very happy.

 

[BradB]

Imagine a room...

Image a room where anyone could bring a laptop and if that laptop had a special coil to receive current, they could leave the room with the battery charged. But either way, it would erase the hard drive.

 

[skizzerflake]

Image a room where anyone could bring a laptop and if that laptop had a special coil to receive current, they could leave the room with the battery charged. But either way, it would erase the hard drive.

It wouldn't be too hard to shield a hard disk against the field that does the charging.

 

[emorphien]

I have trouble believing it would be that hazardous for a hard drive.

 

[stratman]

Oh man I can just see attorneys everywhere licking their chops, some kid gets a pimple on his butt and somehow it'll be connected to this, if your canary dies, guess what? It was inviso-electric's fault. Oh yeah, I can just see what's coming down the pike.

 

[skizzerflake]

These things would not have to be dangerous. The very idea that makes the thing work depends on being able to control the magnetic field so that it concentrates on the gadgets and not on spreading waves all over the place. At the worst, they wouldn't approach the stray field dangers of a hair dryer or electric range. We've gotten so used to those that they don't even bother to put a sticker on the range telling you not to sit on it while it's on. Those fears seem to have diminished of late (perhaps because of the complete lack of compelling evidence). People have much better reason to fear their obsessively used cell phones, which they old up to their brains.

 

[Brent T]

Witrics and Witricity

Do you think this WiTricity thing will have any practical aplication?
How would it be used in Witric products?

Witrics is what you call everything pertaining to WiTricity.

Supposedly anyway.

here is the BBC link if you don't know what I'm talking about.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6725955.stm