Wireless Electricity Coming...

[homebrewer_99]

Your tax dollars at work...(good news for a change):

http://www.rdecom.army.mil/rdemagazine/Current/itl_MIT.html

 

[Jester]

thats crazy...!!!!

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

It's been theorized that there are other ways of wirelessly transmitting energy... over much greater distances. This is truly nothing new. Those flashlights that you shake to power up are "wireless", albeit only with the "receiver" end of the device they are talking about.

I think the reason it's never been done before is that you will be dealing with a lot of sterile and brain-damaged people if this technology isn't very carefully controlled. I'm imagining a situation where a handful of people will die because they were exposed to a faulty product that was incorrectly produced, 20 years ago, and they all happened to stand near it for a couple hours.

The scary thing is, the pattern will never be distinguished. It will be chalked up to "some strange increase in the frequency of brain tumors" because, well, the FDA doesn't test battery charging devices, nor do they test out for 20 years, nor will you ever be able to prove that such a faulty device is a proximate cause of the damage... unless, of course, you are fortunate enough to kill THOUSANDS of people, in which case there will be very large investigations which will bankrupt the company and ultimately result in bankruptcy and minimal benefit for those injured.

Don't mind me though.. I'm just a paranoid drunk. I'm sure I'll be more enthusiastic once sobriety kicks in.

 

[BierMuncher]

Those guys think they’re so smart…

Hello??? Already been invented.

Anyone ever heard of the Clapper. Clap your hands and power comes on…???

Hello???

 

[Fingers]

The losses associated with that sort of technology is huge. You need to create really high voltages to produce an induction field large enough to transfer even small amounts of power. It's expensive and ineffecient. That's why it hasn't been implemented already.

 

[RadicalEd]

Spot on, Fingers. This is old stuff. Anybody use a radio recently? It's the same concept; magnetic waves in the atmosphere interact with the metal antenna, creating a electrical signal. This isn't much different; just on a much larger power scale over a much shorter distance. It's even the exact same technology that makes transformers possible; coils of wires generate a magnetic field, which in turn creates a current in a nearby coil of wires.

The only way this tech will make sense for a majority of consumers is in a pad-like device on which you can lay your electronics, and which then proceeds to charge them. Any distance further than an inch or two makes the efficiency drop like a rock.

Sorry, I'm an EE student an got on a nerd rant. Please excuse me while I go solder something to vent .

 

[david_42]

Wireless power transmission was one of Tesla's major interests. He made some very interesting demonstrations at ranges similar to what that article is talking about, but went bankrupt trying to scale it at Wardenclyffe shortly before he died. Unfortunately, he was very concerned about someone stealing the concept (would not have been the first time) and left no usable notes.

I've also seen much less ambitious products where you have a radiant loop in a desk pad and inductive chargers built into items. Just placing your cell phone on your desk would charge it.

 

[kb9vzh]

This would be a great advance if it was safe. With my other hobby being radio communication, I know what high levels of free radiation or RF can do to a human body. Just think of it as a microwave. Like a microwave signal, if you get in front of the wave of the transmitter you can boil your internal organs at high power. This is a good idea for very low power devices (12V) but i'm not sure about 120V.

 

[BierMuncher]

CLAP....on

CLAP CLAP...off

 

[kb9vzh]

CLAP....on

CLAP CLAP...off

Or just use a JIMMY!!!!

Sorry, lots of homebrew talking here.

 

[the_bird]

Wireless power transmission was one of Tesla's major interests. He made some very interesting demonstrations at ranges similar to what that article is talking about, but went bankrupt trying to scale it at Wardenclyffe shortly before he died. Unfortunately, he was very concerned about someone stealing the concept (would not have been the first time) and left no usable notes.

I've also seen much less ambitious products where you have a radiant loop in a desk pad and inductive chargers built into items. Just placing your cell phone on your desk would charge it.

(j/k)

 

[sphericalcamel]

Now that we have a light bulb to see with, lets see a wireless heatstick.

Get to work MIT

 

[WOP31]

Just what we need is more RF and microwave energy just floating around radiating the hell out of all of us.

Cheers

 

[landhoney]

(j/k)

Awesome! ROTMFFL!