MIT Scientists Invent Wireless Electricity

[GWOtaku]

Okay, this is just awesome.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=460602&in_page_id=1965



Scientists have sounded the death knell for the plug and power lead.
In a breakthrough that sounds like something out of Star Trek, they have discovered a way of 'beaming' power across a room into a light bulb, mobile phone or laptop computer without wires or cables.

In the first successful trial of its kind, the team was able to illuminate a 60-watt light bulb 7ft away.

The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who call their invention 'WiTricity', believe it could change the way we use electricity and do away with the tangle of cables, plugs and chargers that clutter modern homes.

It could also allow the use of laptops and mobile phones without batteries.
The inspiration came when the lead researcher, Dr Marin Soljacic, was standing in his kitchen at night staring at his mobile phone.

"It was probably the sixth time that month that I was awakened by my cell phone beeping to let me know that I had forgotten to charge it. It occurred to me that it would be so great if the thing took care of its own charging," he said.

To turn this dream into reality, Dr Soljacic needed a way of transmitting power wirelessly.

Scientists have known for nearly two centuries that it is possible to transfer an electrical current from one coil of wire to another without them touching.

The phenomenon, called electromagnetic induction, is used in power transformers and electric motors around the world.

However, the coils in motors and transformers have to be close for power to pass from one to another. Attempting to transfer power over distances is impossible.

The breakthrough came when Dr Soljacic realised there was another way of transferring energy through the air.

Rather than sending power from a transmitter to a receiver as a conventional electromagnetic wave - the same form of radiation as light, radio waves and microwaves - he could use the transmitter to fill a room with a 'non-radiative' electromagnetic field.

Most objects in the room - such as people, desks and carpets - would be unaffected by the electromagnetic field. But any objects designed to resonate with the electromagnetic field would absorb the energy.

It sounds complicated, but the result demonstrated by the American team this month was a dramatic success. Using two coils of copper, the team transmitted power 7ft through the air to a light bulb, which lit up instantly.

The scientists say the technique works only over distances of up to 9ft. However, they believe it could be used to charge up a battery within a few yards of the power source connected to a receiving coil. Placing one source in each room could provide enough power for an entire house. The receiver and transmitter would not have to be in view of each other.

Professor Peter Fisher, another of the researchers, said: "As long as the laptop is in a room equipped with a source of wireless power, it would charge automatically without having to be plugged in. In fact, it would not even need a battery to operate inside such a room."

The researchers believe there is little to worry about on safety grounds, saying that magnetic fields interact weakly with living organisms and are unlikely to have any serious side effects.

Dr Soljacic said: "When my son was about three years old, we visited his grandparents' house. They had a 20-year-old phone and my son picked up the handset asking, 'Dad, why is this phone attached with a cord to the wall?' That is the mindset of a child growing up in a wireless world.

"Hopefully we will be getting rid of some more wires and batteries soon."

[tucsoncoyote]

Gee Didn't Nikola Tesla envision this back in the early 1900's? I mean Tesla had suggested "wireless electricity" way back then.. and to think it took 100 years for some folks at MIT to finally figure THAT out!

:coyote:

[GWOtaku]

Suggesting it can be done and actually inventing a practical way to do it are very, very different things.

[tucsoncoyote]

Suggesting it can be done and actually inventing a practical way to do it are very, very different things.

Actually Tesla Didn't Only theorize about it.. He Actually Did it. According to what is written in Wikipedia:


A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity was proposed in which transmission in various natural mediums with current that passes between the two point are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. 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).

and if you think this is far fetched and that someone just added it to Wikipedia, well here's further proof of Tesla's ideas that were put into practice. (http://www.user.shentel.net/finefroc/index.html) In this article it states:


When Nikola Tesla discovered alternating current (AC) electricity, he had great difficulty convincing men of his time to believe in it. Thomas Edison was in favor of direct current (DC) electricity and opposed AC electricity strenuously. Tesla eventually sold his rights to his alternating current patents to George Westinghouse for $1,000,000. After paying off his investors, Tesla spent his remaining funds on his other inventions and culminated his efforts in a major breakthrough in 1899 at Colorado Springs by transmitting 100 million volts of high-frequency electric power wirelessly over a distance of 26 miles at which he lit up a bank of 200 light bulbs and ran one electric motor! With this souped up version of his Tesla coil, Tesla claimed that only 5% of the transmitted energy was lost in the process. But broke of funds again, he looked for investors to back his project of broadcasting electric power in almost unlimited amounts to any point on the globe.

Now then MIT is just revamping Tesla's ideas just some 108 years later.. Same Principle and idea Nikola Tesla did.. 108 years ago. Some call Tesla a "Madman" I call him, "A Sheer Genius."

Also if you note, MIT can do it across a room up to about 9 feet (3 Meters).
Nikola Tesla did it over a 26 mile range with just a Tesla coil. (That's almost 50km).

So then all MIT is doing, is just "Reinventing" Tesla's Wireless Energy exchange. so to speak.

:coyote:

[GWOtaku]

Ha, interesting stuff. Seems reinventing is a better choice of words to use, then. Seems I can't edit the title as it appears on the forum list, though.

[SirLemming]

The trick is always making it practical, of course. But if they manage to do that, this could be one of the most revolutionary inventions of all time. Without something like this, we'll be tied down by the need for a plug-in power source for quite some time.
I do wonder about safety, even though they say it's safe; there HAS to be some sort of risk here. The idea of walking around in fields of electricity just creeps me out a little. Spontaneous combustion ahoy! Get Jack Bauer on the line.

If it doesn't work out, I guess we'll always have solar power...

[tucsoncoyote]

The trick is always making it practical, of course. But if they manage to do that, this could be one of the most revolutionary inventions of all time. Without something like this, we'll be tied down by the need for a plug-in power source for quite some time.
I do wonder about safety, even though they say it's safe; there HAS to be some sort of risk here. The idea of walking around in fields of electricity just creeps me out a little. Spontaneous combustion ahoy! Get Jack Bauer on the line.

If it doesn't work out, I guess we'll always have solar power...

I guess you never read my posts fully. ^^^

Tesla did this way back in 1891-1899, and in fact he was able to use the Earth's own magnetic field to beam energy a distance of 26 miles to light up 200 light bulbs and run a small electrical motor... all without wires.

So in a way MIT isn't "Inventing" anything. They're just "Re-inventing" Tesla's idea that he did way back in the late 1890's some 100+ years ago. Also Tesla used Tesla coils to beam this energy and with an efficiency of about 95% (losing only 5% of the total energy in the process, which is I feel, very efficient).

Maybe MIT is just improving, or rather, just re-examining Tesla's original idea maybe but believe me I think someone needs to go back to history class to learn that this has been done way before now.. Too bad no one thought Tesla's ideas were practical until now.

As for Spontaneous combustion? Not very Likely... more like Electrocution.. and yes go call Jack Bauer.. While we're at it, Tesla's ideas included things like "Earthquake Machines" and even the proverbial Death rays. But some of his ideas did have their practicalities and could have been used 100 years ago.

So was Tesla a Madman, an Evil Genius? Hardly he was just extremely eccentric to develop ideas that no one could conceive some 100 years before its time.

:coyote:

[Kaoru]

Damn! I've had that idea for a long time, should have trademarked it! :sweat:

Haha j/k. Awesome news I hate powercords.

Article should have started something like this: "On June 8, 2007, at around 10:12AM GMT, the life as you know it has ended forever!!!".

[Rasputin]

I found out about this on the BBC, and my immediate reaction was 'no...effing...way...'. If this is coming onto the market within the year (they interviewed someone suggesting exactly that) then this is jaw-droppingly exciting stuff. I'll no longer need to tape my knackered charger plug into my mobile, snapping endless amounts of elastic bands and hair ties in the process. Now I just need to sit here and it'll just charge happily on its own.

And then I find Nikolai Tesla did exactly the same thing just as efficiently 108 years ago over 26 miles distance. Well, you know what they say, better late than never.

[Raidon Makoto]

I wanted to do something like that when I was four... Now this guy goes, takes my idea, and is going to get rich off of it. Lol.

Can't wait to have wireless electricity in my house.

[Desensitized]

Does this mean electric cars anytime soon? :p

[Discloner]

I do wonder about safety, even though they say it's safe; there HAS to be some sort of risk here. The idea of walking around in fields of electricity just creeps me out a little. Spontaneous combustion ahoy! Get Jack Bauer on the line. This is what I'm worried about as well. I mean...you're surrounding yourself with energy, how is that any different then living under power lines or talking on a cell phone (though I guess the latter hasn't been conclusively found to cause cancer; it's still been suggested)?

And aside from messing with development and creating cancer - how would this affect the enviroment? I mean, Scientists were worried that cellphones were the cause of this year's major Bee-genocide scare...what other animals would be messed up as a result of floating energy?

It's a neat idea, but will it just make things worse?

[tucsoncoyote]

I wanted to do something like that when I was four... Now this guy goes, takes my idea, and is going to get rich off of it. Lol.

Can't wait to have wireless electricity in my house.

Actually MIT doesn't even hold the Patented ideas for this. Nikola Tesla does, and in fact it's funny, you talk about getting rich off the idea? Hate to say this but Tesla already had this patented.. in 1891, Well before you were even a thought by your parents.


This is what I'm worried about as well. I mean...you're surrounding yourself with energy, how is that any different then living under power lines or talking on a cell phone (though I guess the latter hasn't been conclusively found to cause cancer; it's still been suggested)?

And aside from messing with development and creating cancer - how would this affect the enviroment? I mean, Scientists were worried that cellphones were the cause of this year's major Bee-genocide scare...what other animals would be messed up as a result of floating energy?

It's a neat idea, but will it just make things worse?

and here's another good question.. what would 'wireless electricity do to the enviroment, and also I pondered one other problem with this idea.. considering it deals with transmission by means of the natural magnetosphere that surrounds the planet.

A friend of mine and i were discussion about the upcoming sunspot activity that is due in 2011-2012 that might affect the Magnetosphere. A well placed Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) that is south facing could easily cause the Magnetosphere to buckle a little. So any energy being transmitted across this medium would be severely affected..(Rolling Blackouts anyone?) But then if there was a CME powerful enough it could bring the entire global electrical system to it's knees, if not knocking it out completely.

Oh sure the wireless electricity idea would be good, but one well placed CME could have you knocked out for a few days tops vs the years it would take to recover from a hit on our current electrical grids..

Though I will say this.. Maybe those folks at MIT could consider this idea a back up plan.. just in case..After all you never know what might happen when you're dealing with "Space Weather".

:coyote:

[SirLemming]

Another question: would thunderstorms be less damaging or more damaging? This could mean there's no "single point of failure" to get hit, or it could mean even more chaos. I'm not sure.

[Ykwia]

So MIT breaks the mold of Wireless Energy.

Why it took 100 years to perfect I'll never know.

[tucsoncoyote]

So MIT breaks the mold of Wireless Energy.

Why it took 100 years to perfect I'll never know.

Oh I can explain WHY it took 100 years..

It's because a lot of folks thought initially that Nikola Tesla was some sort of Eccentric Loon that was planning to show the world some new innovations, but a lot of folks (even today) are fearful of change. So when folks hear about this stuff for the first time, they say, "Wow this is better then Sliced Bread!"

but when someone finally shows that a guy had this same idea 100 years earlier, a lot of folks look at the first time as that of someone who isn't playing with the proverbial full deck.

It's also Ironic that Tesla did have other ideas too, Including a Seismic Generator that was small (and in fact it deals more with Resonance and structural integrity more then anything. and even tests and ideas about, yep you guessed it, Stealth Technology...

But then what did people 100 years ago think of Tesla? that he was some freaking nutcase.. and when he died in 1943, it seems that the FBI, CIA or whoever was running the show at the time, didn't want anyone to get ahold of Tesla's notes.. so they hit them away quite conviently until finally someone with enough brains and a lawyer's degree finally figured out that Tesla's work is now "Public Domain".. and thus released the information to the MIT scientists to mull over..

It's sad that Tesla isn't around today (Considering he died back in 1943), but believe me if he were alive today, he'd show MIT a few tricks they haven't considered.. including field magnetics in which to use the entire earth as a conductive source to transmit energy not just a few feet, but rather tens if not hundreds or even thousands of miles (One item I ran across basically stated that if Tesla had his way and people like JP Morgan were a bit more receptive (Much Like Westinghouse was with Tesla's Idea of AC Current) perhaps Tesla's ideas would have been more common place today then first realized. and Wireless electricity would be transmitted not over just a few feel but rather across oceans to help provide energy needs to some of the smaller 3rd world countries that suffer today.

So call him a loon, call him a nutcase, call him what you will, but when somoene is 100 years ahead of his time, he's really a genius in disguise..

either that.. or a heretic.

:coyote:

[.bg]

Nice! :D No more annoying power cords, which are more annoying here in the UK than in the United States.

[Dr.Pepper]

Cooler than cool:D I won't have to worry about having enough outlets for everything

[Kurokawa41]

I guess you never read my posts fully. ^^^

Tesla did this way back in 1891-1899, and in fact he was able to use the Earth's own magnetic field to beam energy a distance of 26 miles to light up 200 light bulbs and run a small electrical motor... all without wires.

So in a way MIT isn't "Inventing" anything. They're just "Re-inventing" Tesla's idea that he did way back in the late 1890's some 100+ years ago. Also Tesla used Tesla coils to beam this energy and with an efficiency of about 95% (losing only 5% of the total energy in the process, which is I feel, very efficient).

Maybe MIT is just improving, or rather, just re-examining Tesla's original idea maybe but believe me I think someone needs to go back to history class to learn that this has been done way before now.. Too bad no one thought Tesla's ideas were practical until now.

As for Spontaneous combustion? Not very Likely... more like Electrocution.. and yes go call Jack Bauer.. While we're at it, Tesla's ideas included things like "Earthquake Machines" and even the proverbial Death rays. But some of his ideas did have their practicalities and could have been used 100 years ago.

So was Tesla a Madman, an Evil Genius? Hardly he was just extremely eccentric to develop ideas that no one could conceive some 100 years before its time.

:coyote:

That was completely irrelevant to what he said. Why do you keep ranting on about this Tesla guy? You made your point, and I don't think anyone cares all too much about who came up with it; point is, it's been came up with in the first place. What I want to know is: is it gonna cause cancer?

[Cyporiean]

is it gonna cause cancer?

What doesn't?

[Chris Wood]

It sounds neat, but not very healthy. Plus what's to stop your neighbor from feeding off your power supply?

[Kaoru]

What doesn't? I heard air, the Sun and water cause cancer. There's no way to avoid it. Basically, nature does whatever it can to kill you.

[Tanooki]

It sounds neat, but not very healthy. Plus what's to stop your neighbor from feeding off your power supply?
happens all the time with wireless internet connections in apartment complexes. i use my upstair neighbor's wireless router to hook up my nintendo ds to the net

[Kurokawa41]

What doesn't?

...Good point, but seriously.

[Kagetsu]

Gee Didn't Nikola Tesla envision this back in the early 1900's? I mean Tesla had suggested "wireless electricity" way back then.. and to think it took 100 years for some folks at MIT to finally figure THAT out!

:coyote:
That's the first thing I thought about. The thought that came to mind next is the bad effects to human tissue believed to result from proximity to strong electromagnetic fields. I wouldn't go buy the antenna just yet.

[Malex]

...Good point, but seriously.

You are surrounded by microwaves, radio waves, and light waves 24/7/365. This wireless electricity is of a similar wavelength as these so very unlikely for you to get cancer.

[Kurokawa41]

You are surrounded by microwaves, radio waves, and light waves 24/7/365. This wireless electricity is of a similar wavelength as these so very unlikely for you to get cancer.

Hm... didn't think of it like that. Good point, that makes sense.