Imagine a world uplugged!
That future has quietly arrived with the first successful resonant transfer of wireless power over a span of seven feet and carrying enough power to brighten a 60W light bulb.
This humble beginning leads ambitious minds to think of a luxurious home where cell phones, laptop computers, lamps, Roombas and even hair dryers would need no cords to operate.
The Genius behind this exciting development is a wizardy team of scientists from MITs Department of Physics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.
They call this concept œWiTricity, which should not be confused with radio waves, which transmits information wirelessly and in all directions. WiTricity, on the other hand, involves using coupled resonant objects. In other words (and as I understand it), the transmitter and the receiver would be operating on the same resonant frequency which would not interfere with other wireless devices.
This might also be what separates it from the Tesla Effect, which allows farmers, for example, to gather electricity via coils of wire laid beneath power transmission lines on their property.
Sometimes astounding discoveries have simple beginnings. The initial inspiration for this development came several years ago when MIT Professor Marin Soljacic grew tired of hearing his phone beeping to let him know he had forgotten to charge it and began to wonder about the possibility of a self-charging cell phone.
And isnt that a frustration we have all experienced?
It is fun to imagine the wireless possibilities in homes of the future–and the technology would likely be seen first in the top end luxury home market (Bill Gates or Larry Ellison’s homes perhaps?)
A tip of the top hat to Bob Nagel for the find and to PhysOrg for the reporting.
