Tsk! Tsk! If only MIT listened to our Uncle Fester 50 years ago...
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| Science & Technology |
| US scientists discover wireless power |
| 2007-06-09 |
| MIT researchers said on Thursday that they would soon be able to charge a computer or cell phone battery from across a room, perhaps making the annoyance of wires or dead batteries a thing of the past. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and their wireless energy transfer technology may soon eliminate wires that tether machines to wall sockets, or may keep batteries continuously charged and ready to go. “This invention could free us from power cables and ideally replace batteries to a good extent, at least in the context of a home or office setting,” said Aristeidis Karalis, a student member of the MIT team that has worked on the problem for four years. The team at MIT has shown their fledgling “WiTricity” technology can power a 60-watt bulb from a power source two metres away. That is enough energy to power an average laptop, said Marin Soljacic, a professor of physics at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who led the six-person research team. “This is a major milestone,” said Soljacic. “The technology is almost at the point where it could be used in practical applications.” The technology is simple and based on resonance, which causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied to it, Soljacic explained. Two resonant objects on the same resonance frequency can exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with objects that are not on the same wavelength. For the light bulb experiment, the MIT team used electromagnetic resonators in the form of copper coils. One of the coils was attached to a power source. The other acted as a receiver. The transmitter emitted electrical vibrations of a certain frequency, which rippled across an electromagnetic field to the receiver or “resonator” two metres away. In this experiment, the system was operating at 45 percent efficiency, but investigators hope to raise that to the 70-80 percent level by using different materials and tweaking the technology. Soljacic and his team are confident the technology can be improved to the point that consumers can dispense with power cords for their laptops, PDAs or cell phones, as long as they are used in the same room as the power source. “This won’t work on a football field,” said Soljacic. Details of the experiment appear in this week’s issue of the research journal Science. The technology has already piqued the interest of some big names in consumer electronics and venture capitalists have been lining up with offers for the six MIT researchers who are now trying to figure out ways through which they can turn their pet projects into marketable commodities. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Tsk! Tsk! If only MIT listened to our Uncle Fester 50 years ago... |
| Posted by: Morticia 2007-06-09 19:09 |
| #4 Can you imagine all the groundless lawsuits that will nonetheless prevail in LA courtrooms? And the endless hours of fear and loathing of prime time 'News' coverage pushing semi-literate prose and science fiction by incompetent 'journalists' on the subject. Hey Al, a new scam to run on the unwashed masses. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-06-09 10:11 |
| #3 Here comes Waldo. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-06-09 01:46 |
| #2 Aaaaaaaaah! Radiation! Where's My foil helmet? Can you imagine all the groundless lawsuits that will nonetheless prevail in LA courtrooms? |
| Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds 2007-06-09 00:31 |
| #1 Nikola T and any engineering Tricorder have this ability since way back.. |
| Posted by: RD 2007-06-09 00:13 |