Physics promises wireless power

[alan2here]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6129460.stm

 

Sound Likely? or not?

[insane_alien]

its how transformers work already, tesla had the idea. with a bit of refinement then yeah, it could probably work in a few specialized areas but i'm not sure about residential and office applications.

[Klaynos]

It's an interesting idea, I read about it a week or two ago, sounds like it could work but (and it's a big but) it'd make it quite easy for your neighbours to steal your power, and it's still be inefficient compared to cables because it's sure to match the resonance of something else in your house....

[Klaynos]

its how transformers work already, tesla had the idea. with a bit of refinement then yeah, it could probably work in a few specialized areas but i'm not sure about residential and office applications.

 

It's not induction charging, it uses specific resonences to only allow certain devices to receive the energy... quite clever really...

[insane_alien]

well, he had the idea of wirelessly transmitting power, i didn't say he got it working.

[5614]

I saw that too, I'm skeptical.

 

A prototype hasn't even been built yet, let alone tried to be used for real life applications.

 

Apparently it works in theory, maybe it'll work in practice, unlikely it will become widely used. Or that's my view, at the moment. Ideas like wireless energy have been around for a long time, intelligent people like Tesla did a lot of work on it, but at the end of the day we're still using cables and plugs.

 

Maybe it will all change one day, but I seem to be automatically skeptical of things like this. I was skeptical of the relativity drive or electromagnetic drive (emdrive) when I first read about it in the newspapers (and then more scientific sources) a month or two ago, it was "the end of wings and wheels" (quote: Shawyer, the man who developed it). Thats now been widely rejected. I was also skeptical when I read Tajmar's claim that gravitomagnetism is a lot stronger than Einstein predicted, that's now widely viewed as an experimental error. I haven't seen much on that BBC article, but I remain skeptical - for a change!

[CPL.Luke]

I'd personally be very nervous about running RF fields strong enough to power devices anywhere where i'm around.

 

the risk of someone's pacemaker or hip replacement, or bone pin becoming a torch inside someone's body is to high.

 

Also I wouldn't trust that a field that strong wouldn't mess with my neurons a little bit.

[alan2here]

I supose a possible sensible course of action could be to create a list of things other than the arial to this device that resonates at 6.4MHz (to electromagnetic waves)

 

If there are any?

 

If it turned out bone pins did it would be a real showstopper.

I hope and expect this however not to be the case. Maybe if it was they could just redisign those things.

[Dak]

it'd make it quite easy for your neighbours to steal your power, and it's still be inefficient compared to cables because it's sure to match the resonance of something else in your house....

 

that's exactly what i thought.

 

would it be possible to block the transfer, with say metal wallpaper, or a faraday cage thing built into the wall?

 

not that you'd be able to use a mobile then...

[CPL.Luke]

with the amount of energy these waves could carry I wouldn't be surprised if they caused damage even when something wasn't resonating with them.

[Klaynos]

that's exactly what i thought.

 

would it be possible to block the transfer, with say metal wallpaper, or a faraday cage thing built into the wall?

 

not that you'd be able to use a mobile then...

 

Well yes, but that would mean the energy would be leaking into the blocker and not into the device because to block you need to absorb...

 

And CPL.Luke I wouldn't like to say, it'd depend massive amounts on the frequency. As if you pick something that can't resonate anthing in your body there is no way it could damage you as it couldn't be absorbed. But I do think that safety research needs to be done before these devices are made available. If only to stop all they hype similar to that which is now around wifi networks with schools removing them etc...

[CPL.Luke]

well there is a small reason to be fearful about wifi networks. the frequency that a wireless G network runs on (2.4 ghz) is the same that a microwave oven uses. While the quantity of radiation is so small as to be considered insignificant, there haven't been any good long term studies on the matter.

 

except for cell phones having been all over for the past 20 years and not causing any noticeable harm (cell phones also use 2.4 Ghz)

 

that being said i'm not losing any sleep over the wireless G router sitting in my room.

[insane_alien]

CPL, wireless G routers transmit on something like a thousandth that of a phone's power. i think we'll all be safe from them.

[5614]

CPL, wireless G routers transmit on something like a thousandth that of a phone's power. i think we'll all be safe from them.

True. But like mobile phones and wireless routers they are not that powerfull. Whereas this application would require an EM wave which sends enough energy to power computers, lights and all household equipment.

 

Sending signals do not require that much power, a mobile phone is safe to use, but can you imagine an EM wave which supplied 3kW for your electric heater just freely stretching between some power supply in the street to some power receiver on your house?

 

I still don't like the idea. What happened to the fact that standing waves do not transfer energy? And to get a standing wave you need to have the same frequency waves in both directions, for that you're going to need to get your receiver to produce waves as well, which requires power.

[Klaynos]

I thought the idea was to charge things such as mobile phones etc... not actually to power active devices?

[kabooom]

The reason cell phone and wireless radiation doesn't cause problems is because it is non-ionizing. All that radiation can do is heat up particles, causing them to resonate. So if you were to get blasted by a cell phone tower, sure you might have some problems, but more along the lines of being microwaved.

 

Also Tesla did succeed in power transmission through the air, and through the earth. The only reason wireless power transmission didn't flourish was because his financial support noticed you can't easily make people pay for it. Tesla wanted electricity to be free, but the bankers and the like stopped that. Just now are they finally rediscovering Tesla's research it seems.

[5614]

Also Tesla did succeed in power transmission through the air, and through the earth. The only reason wireless power transmission didn't flourish was because his financial support noticed you can't easily make people pay for it. Tesla wanted electricity to be free, but the bankers and the like stopped that. Just now are they finally rediscovering Tesla's research it seems.

That's not true. The closest to power transmission through the air was big sparks, and they're not an efficient way to transmit energy, the distance is limited and it is not very safe. You cannot pass electricity through the Earth.

 

Have you got a reliable source that backs you up?

 

NB: There will, sadly, be many websites which agree with you, hence I asked for a reliable one. The crap you read on the Internet about free energy and cold fusion etc. is generally not correct. The Internet is a wonderful source of information, but remember that not all of it is true. In fact, a lot of it is not true. Be careful what you believe.