MIT man says wireless power is coming

I liked his reasoning behind it "I didn't like my devices to be recharged where I couldn't use them"

I'll believe it when I can buy it. Wireless power has been attempted for years and no-ones managed it thus far.

Have to say this is brilliant. Wonder how much train companies will charge to use their recharge service!

Originally Posted by MIT guy
"a power transmitter would fill the space around it with a non-radiative electromagnetic field,"

The "would" there is extremely important. Just cos they're theorising new ways of doing wireless power don't mean it's about to happen. Like I said, people have been trying it for years, many theories have been made, so far nothings come of any of 'em.

specofdush your so sceptical :p

wireless pads have already been created, if you'd been paying any attention, you stick your phone on it and itll charge your battery, not sure if you can buy them in this country yet, but theyve been made, and they work, its just over short distances, but its half way there

Garside GNER don't charge for using their plugs on the trains, so meh

Swafeman: Nothing like this at all. This does not require contact, the other ones rely on close proximity to induce a current.

There already have been "invisible" cables where the ground is used as a ground and power has been transmitted, the problem is that it requires a larger amount of power then is feasible.

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=109974&highlight=inductance

Damn right wireless power works. :D 12V 1A at the charger will charge 2 2600mah batteries in 2 hours. If someone professional tried this, I'm sure they'd get much better results.

It's "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" not Michigan.

http://www.mit.edu

The sooner the better. I hate all cables with a passion.

Originally Posted by Paradigm Shifter
It's "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" not Michigan.

http://www.mit.edu

You know I though that and thought I must be being thick or something!

id love this if it worked, currently ive got no power sockets in my room or in my lounge (i moved into a shack basicaly :( ), so wireless charging would just be amazing for me :D

Didn't Nikola Tesla come up with a way to transmit power wirelessly? I think I remember reading an article about how he powered a car in this way.

Originally Posted by kempez
You know I though that and thought I must be being thick or something!

easy mistake, that happens. Although there is a MIAT in Michigan.

Michigan Insitute of Aviation and Technology

How about this, in the early 1950,s a soviet listening device was found in the American embassy in Moscow (later displayed by the American ambassador in 1960). It was found in the emblem of the Great Seal of the United States above the ambassadors desk. At first western experts were baffled as to how the device worked because it had no batteries or electrical circuits. Peter Wright of Britains MI5 discovered how it worked and a copy (codename Satyr) was produced. A radio beam was aimed from outside the building, the power from this signal was used by the device as a power source.

Tesla would be happy (or feel that someone had ripped off one of his ideas yet again)

I, on the other hand, don't like the idea of yet more unseen things with poorly tested effects beaming through my body.

Why are you all so worried about negative effects? All the designs I have seen are just a transformer with an air-gap - all energy is "transmitted" magnetically. Unless you believe that magnetic bracelets etc work, you have nothing to worry about.

I don't Know that all the radio & microwave signals that we have around us (& through us) today have any measurable detrimental effects but at the same time I'm just not comfortable with the idea of even more.

Wireless KBs/Mice could become much friendlier.

Any 'spare' power being emitted could be re-absorbed back by the emitter device.

But how efficient could this be? I'm trying to reduce my power consumption.

Originally Posted by Paradigm Shifter
It's "Massachusetts Institute of Technology" not Michigan...

That's what I was thinking.

well what about this?
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/wec.shtml
it works well you just dont want to be in between the invisible beam or else you might smell somthing cooking lol

I like the "WARNING" covers just about everything including "living things" !!

If anyone is interested, there's a similar article published in an MIT paper called Tech Talk found here:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/techtalk-info.html

Just download the current issue.

Originally Posted by HourBeforeDawn
well what about this?
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/wec.shtml

As trailblazer says, that is indeed quite the warning:

Originally Posted by ThinkGeek warning
...do not put ... electrical equipment, food, liquids, paper, glass, flammable substances, magnets, or living things in between the base and satellite units. Just in case.

Glass?

Hmm, although it would be a nice idea, what about pacemakers and cochlear implants etc which are sensitive to electrical interference, we don't want people suddenly dropping dead :o.

Or would the "non-radiative electromagnetic field" statement be my answer?

No No, the batteries in the pace makers would be charged too. As for the WEC, I want one. How much power can it transmit?
I think this would be a good idea, like the laptop wireless points having wireless power too, so no vandalism of the power sockets, would just be a desk.

Originally Posted by HourBeforeDawn
well what about this?
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/wec.shtml
it works well you just dont want to be in between the invisible beam or else you might smell somthing cooking lol

beat me to it. :D

I like the idea of not having to plug in my phone anymore, everything else can be wireless but I doubt we will see anything like this anytime soon. I also wonder about the efficiency of this and how much it will affect its surroundings.

The main point of the whole theory is this idea is that power can be transmitted wirelessly without wasting it while it is not being used. Wireless power is not new but because of the fact that electromagnetic induction wastes energy into the atmosphere and other surrounding objects it requires a rediculous amount of power to transmit the power over a significant distance.

Whether we will see this technology power our phones, cameras, headphones, speakers, keyboards, mice the moment they are within range depends on two things. Firstly the technology has to work as the theory says it does (frankly seems a little implausible to me). Secondly it has to be efficient enough that running a few wireless power devices doesn't significantly increase energy bills. I would imagine that even if it requires 10 times the energy to charge your phone wirelessly vs using a cable you probably wouldn't notice. But if you wanted to power your big 7.1 surround sound speaker system wirelessly it would probably make a big difference to your bills.

I think given these conditions, something like this has a massive chance of success. It's like when the CCD became available everyone realised the big potential for digital cameras. With the increasing demand the technology got better which increased demand further. That's what can happen if a new technology realises it's potential. Even so it took about 30 years to develop into something that could be used comercially. And remember, they haven't even built a working model yet. So I'd estimate we wouldn't see this kind of thing in portable size devices for at least 20-30 years. This may seem like a long time but think how long people have been working to create minature fuel cells.

Originally Posted by DougEdey
Swafeman: Nothing like this at all. This does not require contact, the other ones rely on close proximity to induce a current.

There already have been "invisible" cables where the ground is used as a ground and power has been transmitted, the problem is that it requires a larger amount of power then is feasible.

Like in "The Prestige"? :D

I've been wondering if this was at all possible for a while. I never did any searches to see if it had been researched yet or not though, so this is very interesting. I've always wondered how much energy is inside the radio waves being broadcasted around the world and into space. Is there no way to just have a machine that picks them up and converts them into usable electrical power?

Originally Posted by specofdust
I'll believe it when I can buy it. Wireless power has been attempted for years and no-ones managed it thus far.

Batteries?

Of course, I'd like proper wireless power a bit better.

HourBeforeDawn, you a DGW listener too? I was looking to post the same thing :D

Originally Posted by Firehed
Batteries?

Of course, I'd like proper wireless power a bit better.

Well actually, I would still like batteries, as what happens when you move out of the power grid? sudden lost of power. Batteries would still be a must.

Wireless power... handy

Ha, wireless, electric lawnmower, that the antenna is plugged into my neighbors outdoor power socket. Howdy neighbor!