MIT Scientists Invent Wireless Electricity

[Easy Rhino]

Completely changing the way we use electricity, a group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has successfully beamed electricity from a magnetic coil to a 60 watt light bulb 7 feet away. The phenomenon called electromagnetic induction is already used in transformers and electric motors but they must be close enough for power to pass from one another. Dr Soljacic, the lead researcher on the project, discovered that a transmitter could be used to fill a room with a 'non-radiative' electromagnetic field rather than the traditional transmitter/receiver method powering electric devices wirelessly. For a diagram of how WiTricity works follow the link.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Zalmann]

This is how RFID tags work, the device electronics is powered by power induced in coils. When you have so many people worried about radiation emitting from cell phones and cell phone towers, I fear this will lead to more people being concerned about more radiation and also interferance with sensitive devices such as pacemakers etc.

 

[Easy Rhino]

This is how RFID tags work, the device electronics is powered by power induced in coils. When you have so many people worried about radiation emitting from cell phones and cell phone towers, I fear this will lead to more people being concerned about more radiation and also interferance with sensitive devices such as pacemakers etc.

similiar yes, and it will raise concerns. but the mere fact that they can now beam electricity to something is a massive breakthrough. i remember several months back there was an article on this same research team trying to figure it out. its awesome too read that they have and it is exciting to think of all the ways in which it will improve our lives.

 

[TheButcherNL]

And what will happen if you stand in between, lol.

cya

 

[ex_reven]

OH MY GOD

SEB WAS RIGHT!
noooooooooooooooo

To all you people who ever accidently said "wireless cables" by accident your now forgiven
Seb - "At least I dont need wireless cables"
Us - "Your a fag"

 

[AnnCore]

And what will happen if you stand in between, lol.

cya

For anything to happen you'd need a copper coil...I'll let you decide where it might be placed. j/k

 

[mandelore]

hmm, okay, hows this dissimilar to stealing fee electricity by using a higly would copper coil near a transmitter station? and inducing electricity that way, i think sum1 powered his house that way, they got word and he got sued or fined or summit like that

 

[OnBoard]

Now we need a W-El city to go with WLAN cities, laptop heaven (and I don't even have one).

 

[kakazza]

This seems highly inefficient for daily use. I mean, they make whole citys and states switch to energy-saving lightbulbs and now they fill a whole room with *electricity* so it can power devices which might be there.

I like the idea, like the inovation, like the progress but I don't see this happening in daily life.

 

[Easy Rhino]

This seems highly inefficient for daily use. I mean, they make whole citys and states switch to energy-saving lightbulbs and now they fill a whole room with *electricity* so it can power devices which might be there.

I like the idea, like the inovation, like the progress but I don't see this happening in daily life.

they didnt say it uses more or less electricity. sounds to me like it uses the exact same, but instead of using a chord, it is transmitted wirelessly.

 

[ex_reven]

It would be handy if you could set it up another end to the inverter
So you could stick it on someone, turn it on remotely and watch them fry

 

[XooM]

it's extremely innefficient and highly wasteful and not exactly a new concept... afroman's ghetto wireless mouse worked in exactly the same manner, but on a smaller scale.
Also, since when did everything we own strongly resist magnetic waves, especially powerful ones? Say bye-bye to CRTs, harddrives, floppies (wtf who still has floppies?)

 

[ArkanHell]

yeah, I don't have floppy drives any more, but my EVGA 590 SLI need it for bios flashing so i have to borrow it from my neightboard, I kid of 9 years old! hehehe!

 

[Sasqui]

Somebody tell me this isn't an April fools joke, inductive energy transfer has been around since the dawn of electricity - the problem is it get's picked up by anything conductive, so if you are wearing a metal wristwatch, be prepared for a surprise.

 

[djbbenn]

EMP anyone? Same principle, just in a control manner and not a burst.

 

[hastalik]

they didnt say it uses more or less electricity.

True, but other reports mention a 40% efficiency... I'd not like to scatter 60% of my electricity to the wind... :shadedshu

 

[DaC]

New but old....

Like others said before, the idea isn’t something new....
Actually Faraday already tried that back in his time.
He dreamed about cities without cables, where power
traveled through air from stations...
He was someone far ahead from his time.... still is.

 

[Sapientwolf]

I read something about this sometime last year, same MIT project, so old news to me. But, from the article I read (which covered it in pretty good detail) seemed like a really good design. The design uses electromagnetic induction, however it's not in the same sense as you charge an electric toothbrush, instead of using a magnetic field at close proximity to get the electrons moving, electromagnetic resonance is used, and from the article I read it was a radio class wavelength/frequency. So I wouldn't worry about the extra radiation around, I would worry about wearing jewelry or other metal objects that would resonate at that same EM frequency .

 

[Jimmy 2004]

With the health risks of WiFi and mobiles I can't imagine this going down too well in that department. Sounds like quite a risking thing, not sure I'm too keen on it myself.

 

[selway89]

Hmm good luck to them getting guinepigs to test it on lol, i mean come on they need to test if when you walk in the room you get a blot striking you.

Dont electric toothbrushes charge like this?
But the idea of been able to have a line of fire is nifty. reminds me of the beam on the teleport in HL2.

 

[15th Warlock]

Nikola Tesla was trying this concept almost one century ago... dunno if he was successful, but his ideas were so far fetched for his time that even now some of his theories are starting to see fruition.

 

[magibeg]

I'm actually pretty sure it was nicolas tesla who came up with this idea first some decades ago.

 

[15th Warlock]

I'm actually pretty sure it was nicolas tesla who came up with this idea first some decades ago.

Actually, almost a century ago

EDIT:

Correct that, he demonstrated it almost 120 years ago!

Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is the archaic term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla#Middle_years

 

[0elemental0]

great.....super low frequency EM waves.... ask the us navy, better yet, ask your local cetacean population how that went for them.

 

[Nothgrin]

I was always under the imrpession that this can be done using high powered microwaves. The only reason they dont do it because of the high radiation and the very bad side effects of using it.