Wireless Electricity
- Thread starter Drew Ott
- Start date
Wow. I've been interested in wireless power systems for a while now, the idea has been proposed and experimented with before, but this is completely different from what I remember reading about. Suddenly induction based electric car roadways seem antiquated.
That said, I can immediately think of a lot of problems that could come up here, enough to make it unlikely to actually take off.
That said, I can immediately think of a lot of problems that could come up here, enough to make it unlikely to actually take off.
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Andrew McCarrick
Carbonite Member
God I hope this never becomes commercially successful, because it's so pointless... And is not as safe as they say it is.
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rafikiwilliams
Well-known member
i love ted.
If it's commercially successful, then it could not have been pointless.
Anhar_Miah
Veteran
I see huge potential in this, electric car charging bays, mobile phones (cell phones) can be charged by placing them on charging zones or surfaces, not to mention all those wireless controls, keyboards & mice, etc all would benifit from wireless charging.
Essentially ANY portable device could use this technology to make life even easier.
Essentially ANY portable device could use this technology to make life even easier.
Gord.T
Still "Senior Member"
Hey Anhar. If you will allow me to play the devils advocate for a moment, in 5000 words or less.
-electric cars charging bays:
I don't see a practicle purpose. The device would probably be something like a large pad with 2 handles that the user would slap onto the side of the car to get close enough to charge it.
Thus, getting out of the car, going throgh the same routines they do now.
Unless the user could park within 5 feet of the device, not get out of the car and have it charge, then you have something.
I don't see that happening, so, no advantage.
-mobile phones:
Perhaps, but plugging a mobile phone into a charger, plugged into a cars cigarette lighter, does not seem like a huge burden.
But, sure, if it was all automated it could save 30 seconds a day from a persons busy schedule.
Certainly one less thing to think about. But yeah, convenience, sure, I can see that one.
-Keyboards:
Do we really need or want a wireless keyboard?
-Wireless mouse:
Tried one. It sucked. I use a wired laser mouse. Never have a problem except the odd hair and gunk getting in front of the lens.
A monthly clean and all is new and perfect again.
I don't see wireless mouse charging being a benefit, at least not noteworthy.
-Wireless rechargable calculators: Hehe. Old school. I have one. It has solar cells.
I've used it daily if sometimes for just a few minutes now for 10 years or so. Never touched the battery yet.
It's a Radio Shack 65-820 EC 4041 from what I can read after wiping the dirt off the serial sticker.
I don't really see the benefit yet from this tech. A real practicle benefit I mean.
What we need is a way to replace batteries as we know them, Wireless or otherwise. And I dont mean putting a device on a pad instead of on a charger.
I'd burn the same calories either way. The solar cell/battery combo calculator works amazingly well.
Imgaine that. I bought a calculator 10 years ago and it's still going strong with no batteries being touched or replaced.
If wireless can bring that deal to the table then I'd look at it.
I don't see that. And besides, these recharable batteries need replacing how often now?
I'm not convinced.
Anhar_Miah
Veteran
Allow me to answer:
Yes go for it!
Well as far as I understand it, charging distance can be between cm's to Meters, even Kilometers (as demonstrated using microwaves in 1997) (known as near field and Far field) Also there are different types of charging, inductive, Resonant etc.
So yes, its possible to have charging bays with 5 feet distance.
Until you think about all the different types of plugs/ standard/ non standard inter connectors/ adaptors etc.
Having a common charging platform would eliminate all those different coupling issues, buy adherering to having certain power bands, MULTIPLE devices can simply be charged without the need to worry about adaptors type mismatch, model specification etc.
Also having a shared platform would reduce waste in terms of adaptors produced etc, also wear and tear, no mecahnical parts (in terms of interfacing to the device), unlike power adaptors, which need to be 'pluged' in. How many times have you broken headphones or plugs because the wire got bent (over time)?
No, but they are nice to have, plus they reduce *yet* another wire connection to the PC/Computer, look how many wires even the simplest PC setup has, cable management products exist for a reason, with wireless we are removing the root cause.(and with Wireless Charging we are solving the issue of portable energy)
OK, you got me there, same argument as the keyboard, but I;ve sufferd the same pain
No ones saying it has to replace tech thats already working, so I think this example is a little mute, but try powering your color graphical calculator using solor cells!
I see potential for the above reasons.
Sadly, even though I'm a fan of PV cells, they simply are not energy effcient for devices other than simple pocket caclulators, modern portable devices consume ALOT of energy, high density Li-Ion batteries have made such devices usable.
Anhar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/wireless-power2.htm
Hey Anhar. If you will allow me to play the devils advocate for a moment, in 5000 words or less.
Yes go for it!
Well as far as I understand it, charging distance can be between cm's to Meters, even Kilometers (as demonstrated using microwaves in 1997) (known as near field and Far field) Also there are different types of charging, inductive, Resonant etc.
So yes, its possible to have charging bays with 5 feet distance.
Until you think about all the different types of plugs/ standard/ non standard inter connectors/ adaptors etc.
Having a common charging platform would eliminate all those different coupling issues, buy adherering to having certain power bands, MULTIPLE devices can simply be charged without the need to worry about adaptors type mismatch, model specification etc.
Also having a shared platform would reduce waste in terms of adaptors produced etc, also wear and tear, no mecahnical parts (in terms of interfacing to the device), unlike power adaptors, which need to be 'pluged' in. How many times have you broken headphones or plugs because the wire got bent (over time)?
No, but they are nice to have, plus they reduce *yet* another wire connection to the PC/Computer, look how many wires even the simplest PC setup has, cable management products exist for a reason, with wireless we are removing the root cause.(and with Wireless Charging we are solving the issue of portable energy)
OK, you got me there, same argument as the keyboard, but I;ve sufferd the same pain
No ones saying it has to replace tech thats already working, so I think this example is a little mute, but try powering your color graphical calculator using solor cells!
I see potential for the above reasons.
Sadly, even though I'm a fan of PV cells, they simply are not energy effcient for devices other than simple pocket caclulators, modern portable devices consume ALOT of energy, high density Li-Ion batteries have made such devices usable.
Anhar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/wireless-power2.htm
Gord.T
Still "Senior Member"
I can go with everything you said except the cars. The reason is the current requirement to recharge a car battery would be too high to make it convenient. A cell phone or calculator from a distance, sure. Not a 40 amp/hr car battery. There's no way to induce that kind of current without getting right on it's ass. That's if you want it done 'today'.
The rest is a matter of opinion and what the market will bear. That can speak for itself so it's just conjecture at this point.
I still don't see it from my POV, but I can see it happening anyways. Depends on how people recieve it. Most notably the younger generation. Also, after all, I'm not the president of the planet. What the hell do I know? :beer:
The rest is a matter of opinion and what the market will bear. That can speak for itself so it's just conjecture at this point.
I still don't see it from my POV, but I can see it happening anyways. Depends on how people recieve it. Most notably the younger generation. Also, after all, I'm not the president of the planet. What the hell do I know? :beer:
Anhar_Miah
Veteran
10 minutes to charge an EV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcbx57Azisw
and thats old technology..
Anhar
EDIT:
Yea I agree with you there..
Gord.T
Still "Senior Member"
An EV. Not a car . Anyways I call BS even on the EV. My brother charges motorcycle batteries regularly and it takes a lot longer than 10 minutes. More like 6 to 12 hrs. Even so, try it with wireless and lose X percentage of your power in the process, close up and personal, then try it from an even greater distance. Point made.
Try it, prove it. Not you personally, but the stats aren't there to support that theory under the conditions I described, that was implied. Not from a distance and not in a decent time frame that would make it practicle. The rest I can go for like I siad.
:beer:
/Edit: Bottom line here is prove it.
Try it, prove it. Not you personally, but the stats aren't there to support that theory under the conditions I described, that was implied. Not from a distance and not in a decent time frame that would make it practicle. The rest I can go for like I siad.
:beer:
/Edit: Bottom line here is prove it.
Anhar_Miah
Veteran
Yes, Yes and Yes! there are many alternatives!
I was not pointing towards lead acid batteries (as I mentioned Li-Ion in my posts) which are night and day.
Lead acids are well over 100 years old and have the worst power to density ratio of all batteries.
Super fast charging is an area of active research, methods such as nanotechnology are now being applied in the battery field with great success, see here:
Toshiba demonstrates Li-Ion batteries with nanotechnology that chargies in 60 Seconds:
http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2005_03/pr2901.htm
Or Dr Yi at Harvard working recently on Silicon Nanowires used in 'Super Li-Io' batteries that have 10X capacity over normal Li-Ion batteries:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html
For more generic information on batteries:
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/
Exciting times..
Anhar
ZazaCast
Major Contributor
Never happen. Your local gov't makes too much off the delivery tax...and others are looking to make more too. Time Warner is looking at charging you by your usage for the internet.
In NY we now pay more for the delivery of our electric than the amount of electric we use! Crazy, crazy stuff.
...plus, I don't know about you, but my cell phone still doesn't work everywhere I go.
I suppose if there were a city-wide network, like a cell network, electric cars could be anywhere and still charge -- including driving down the road.
Practical? Feasible? No idea. But intriguing nonetheless.
Practical? Feasible? No idea. But intriguing nonetheless.
Anhar_Miah
Veteran
Well when I use to work for a well known [removed due to NDA] sports Car company, I witnessed their latest range of sports EV being test driven (basically the same petrol model but with an eletric engine instead).
The scariest thing was how silent it was, needless to say the engineers was saying that it just spanked their entire petrol range...
So, ok not driven one, got close to one
Anhar