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Wireless Power Now A Reality

Posted by Zonk on Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:21 AM
from the just-think-of-the-possibilities dept.
Power Wireless Networking Science Hardware
SlashRating©
35
slashdottit! tm
CSMastermind writes "CNN is reporting on a breakthrough technology. A startup called Powercast has developed and patented a device, the size of a dime and costing 5$ to make, which allows power to be transmitted wirelessly. The device has already gained FCC approval and the company has inked deals with the likes of Phillips. From the article: 'Powercast says it has signed nondisclosure agreements to develop products with more than 100 companies, including major manufacturers of cell phones, MP3 players, automotive parts, temperature sensors, hearing aids, and medical implants. The last of those alone could be a multibillion-dollar market: Pacemakers, defibrillators, and the like require surgery to replace dead batteries. But with a built-in Powercast receiver, those batteries could last a lifetime. '"
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  • dupe? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mr. Capris (839522) <tobeycapris@gmGINSBERGail.com minus poet> on Sunday April 01 2007, @12:24AM (#18563907)
    IIRC, there was something like this last year....

    Although i could be thinking of the "wireless extension cords" on ThinkGeek...

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by SEMW (967629)
      This isn't an april fools joke -- although I'm pretty sure it's a dupe nevertheless, and it's also not very interesting. It doesn't even use induction; it's just transmitting power by E-M waves -- here, radio waves; which certainly works -- crystal radios anyone? RFID chips? -- but is VERY inefficient (especially if you want to convert the radio waves back into electricity, rather than, say sound, as a crystal radio does), and can't be used to transmit more than tiny amounts of power. The only thing new

      • Re:dupe? (Score:5, Informative)

        by The Great Pretender (975978) on Sunday April 01 2007, @01:04AM (#18564157)
        There was a report on cnet Jan 7 this year. They unveiled the concept and Philips interest at CES 2007 http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12760_7-9673092-5.htm l [cnet.com]
      • What do you think induction is based on if not radio waves?

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by SEMW (967629)

          What do you think induction is based on if not radio waves?
          An alternating magnetic field, which induces a current. This is NOT the same as electromagnetic radiation, of which radio waves are an example.

          • Re:dupe? (Score:5, Informative)

            by naoursla (99850) on Sunday April 01 2007, @01:59AM (#18564429) Homepage Journal
            Radio waves are alternating magnetic fields. The faster the field is alternated the more power it has and the further it travels. Go study how an AM transmitter and receiver works. Most AM antennas are simple inductive coils that pick up a modulations in a magnetic field. Building an AM transmitter is one of the simplest projects you can do (and was a project in my first circuits class). All you do is make a periodic signal and bound the amplitude by some input (like from a microphone). Then you run it through a coil of wire to create the alternate magnetic field. The magnetic field then hits the coil in the antenna of the receiver and induces a current. The current passes over a resistor and you measure the voltage level. You run that voltage level through a band pass filter and then through an amplifier and then to a speaker and voila! you get to hear whatever the microphone on the other end is picking up.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by evilviper (135110)

        but is VERY inefficient

        It would certainly be idiotic for things like cellphones. However, I could see the technology being incredibly popular for medical implants.

        Instead of a $50,000 surgery to replace a battery, you put a little charged coil against your body for a few hours every few months to charge the battery.

    • Re:dupe? (Score:5, Funny)

      by saskboy (600063) on Sunday April 01 2007, @01:08AM (#18564173) Homepage Journal
      My calculator has had wireless power - from light, for decades. This is such old news ;-)
  • Tesla [wikipedia.org] did this sort of thing prior to 1900...
    • Exactly right - and he had the excuse that he wouldn't know if it was worth it until the physics was worked out and there was no wired infrastructure.

      I welcome our new wireless first April overlords.

  • Not april fools (Score:5, Informative)

    by benh57 (525452) <bhines AT alumni DOT ucsd DOT edu> on Sunday April 01 2007, @12:30AM (#18563965) Homepage
    This one's real kids.

    Write-up from Jan. [cnet.com]

    Official Site [powercastco.com]

  • Be a real bitch when there's an outage (Score:3, Funny)

    by oDDmON oUT (231200) on Sunday April 01 2007, @12:31AM (#18563979)
    "Frank! I *told* you you should get the cable backup, but noooo....they'd mess up the line of your suit". Shakes head dolefully and flutters hands ineffectually "At least I could have plugged that pacemaker in".

  • Probably NOT an April Fools joke (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jsm300 (669719) on Sunday April 01 2007, @12:37AM (#18564019)
    If this is an April Fools joke then a lot of work went into establishing background for it. According to a CNET article back in January this company (Powercast) attended CES and mentioned Philips as a partner back then. The article referenced here was written on March 30th (although the URL has 04/01 in the name). That article is in complete agreement with the Cnet article. the Powercast website (powercastco.com) was established last October. Then again, Slashdot has a tradition of a bunch of bogus articles on 04/01, but perhaps this isn't one of them.
    • I've got an idea:

      Lets take a ridiculous sounding true story and then wait until April Fools to post it. No one will believe it, but the joke is still on them!
      • Make it one we had as an April fools joke *last* year, then ppl will cry "dupe" too. It's actually really funny if you think about it: the only real story thatll prolly get posted today, it's an (almost) unbelieveable breakthrough that's been made fun of on this day in the past, and everyone will gloss over it as an april fools gag...
  • Well, we know that every energy conversion step wastes some energy. So, at times where several governments are planning to ban incandescent lights, is it wise to go the way of wirelless power, with all the potential waste, just to enable people to have the convenience of charging their laptops without the minor hassle of handling a cable? (PS: Of course, for serious applications like medical implants, I think it's a good idea and worth the waste)
    • So you're trying to compare the efficiency of fluorescent bulbs versus incandescent to ... what? The idea here is mostly to power things that are running on batteries now. Anytime that you can replace batteries with grid power, even at low efficiencies, you're already ahead. And of course, all the devices that are simply impractical if they have to be plugged in or loaded up with bulky batteries.

      Besides, no one ever said that environmentalism and conservation meant that you have to live a shitty life w

  • All hail the power of induction! The same power that lets insane farmers lay down ~2km of copper wire underneath high tension lines to leech ~110V of current will power our PDAs from... a few centimeters away.

    • The same power that lets insane farmers lay down ~2km of copper wire underneath high tension lines to leech ~110V

      I heard of guy who lived next door to an AM radio transmitter. He hooked a wire to the cyclone wire fence around the transmitter, rectified and inverted it and used it to run his house.

      Must have taken a while to find, too.

  • how dare you (Score:5, Funny)

    by fermion (181285) on Sunday April 01 2007, @12:53AM (#18564095) Homepage Journal
    post a real story on april fools day! We barely expect legitimate stories the rest of the year, much less on April 1. Next thing you know stories will be edited to meet standard English requirements.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by smash (1351)
      Dude, this story was posted on april fools day, to fool those who think it was an april fools into posting crap like "april fools" and "slashdot is so not worth reading until monday", etc..

      It's the thinking man's april fools story of the day :D

  • Without wires, the price of copper will drop. What are all of those copper thieves going to do for money now? Maybe now I'll be able to legally melt all of my pennies again.

  • To recap (Score:5, Funny)

    by slickwillie (34689) on Sunday April 01 2007, @01:06AM (#18564167)
    Let's see. We have:

    Power over Ethernet.
    Ethernet over power.

    Now we can have Ethernet over Power over Wireless over Ethernet over Power over ....

      I think we are almost there.

  • Lifetime (Score:5, Funny)

    by evilviper (135110) on Sunday April 01 2007, @01:12AM (#18564201) Journal

    Pacemakers, defibrillators, and the like require surgery to replace dead batteries. But with a built-in Powercast receiver, those batteries could last a lifetime.

    The batteries already last a lifetime!

    As in: when they die, you die.
  • I have only read the summary, but I am overjoyed by this fantastic new development! Batteries that could last a lifetime! Yippee! I am fed up with laptop and cellphone batteries losing capacity after a couple of years.
  • My toothbrush has been charged wirelessly for years. So, they just cranked up the power? Hmmm
    • My toothbrush has been charged wirelessly for years. So, they just cranked up the power? Hmmm

      not quite. what that kind of wireless charger uses is inductive coupling, using coils and using a magnetic field to induce a current in device's coil.

      this method uses radio waves, which is a more interesting trick and works over a longer range (inductive charging is limited to a few inches at most with reasonably-sized coils).

      still, this isn't delivering an enormous amount of power yet. about enough to drive a cell

  • Umm: Microwave? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Irvu (248207) on Sunday April 01 2007, @01:35AM (#18564289)
    Microwave power transmission has been a reality since at least the 60's and is still in use today (just don't get in the way :). See Das Vikipediem [wikipedia.org] for more info. I believe also that Nikolai Tesla did some little work in this area again see El Viki [wikipedia.org]

    Don't get me wrong I applaud any technology the size of a dime that can be made for $5 and transmit power safely for our nifty home devices and pacemakers but, due respect to CNN's science guys I ain't about to go out and buy Powercast's stock just yet. Especially since the most common use of bradcast power (the Radarange) nd medical tech (pacemakers) are rumoured not to get along together. [straightdope.com]
  • But is it worth all the shocks?
  • I would like to invest in your development of this super power source. This requires a private arrangement. My company, IM-krook LTD has reviewed your patent and find it valid. IM-krok will be willing to fund the progjct for $40,000,000 Million dollars. USA. We will need a bank deposit number and credit card numbers with pins to verify your sincerity^w^w^w^w. You will receive these funds underlegal claims; all legal documents will be carefully worked out to ensure a risky free transfer. I am willing to pay a generous management fee as well as appreciation as soon as this transaction is financialy sponcored & completed by you. I have all the details. All correspondences will be via email, for now. The funds in question are quite large. I will expect a straight answer from you. Yes or no. If yes, Kindly furnish me with your personal information which must includ your direct cell phone and fax number, your address and company name, then lets work out the modalities from there Thanks and God bless you, Mr. David Yong. Phone: (44) 7024097815
  • But... the microwave power plant shouldn't be available until around 2028; that's what the strategy guide said!

  • Old science, new engineering. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CrazyJim1 (809850) on Sunday April 01 2007, @02:08AM (#18564467) Journal
    "If you had asked me seven months ago if this was possible, I would have said, 'Are you dreaming? Have you been smoking something?'" says Govi Rao

    I thought this was common knowledge 10 years ago, just not the engineering side.

  • NOT april fools. (Score:4, Informative)

    by Devistater (593822) * <devistater.hotmail@com> on Sunday April 01 2007, @03:09AM (#18564783)
    Official webpage: http://www.powercastco.com/ [powercastco.com] Also, they were picked "Best Emerging Technology at CES 2007" Theres other links availible on their webpage (and from google), and NONE of the source articles are dated April 1st.

  • Not an April Fools (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mustafap (452510) on Sunday April 01 2007, @03:27AM (#18564889)

    This has already been reported. There is nothing new here, really: it's just an efficient transformer.

    My concern is just how efficient will it be? We waste huge amounts of energy already with directly coupled chargers that are left plugged in and powered when not in use. This is just a *less* efficient version of the same.

    So, anyone have any figures for efficiencies compared to direct connection chargers?

  • Energy waster (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FridayBob (619244) on Sunday April 01 2007, @06:28AM (#18565643)
    Up to 70% efficient means at least a 30% energy loss; when recharging millions of little devices, that all adds up to a lot of waste. In virtually all cases, recharging the old fashioned way is likely to be better for the environment. However, it looks set to become so popular, that I wonder if we'll be given the choice. I hate wires too, and the convenience of this invention is obvious, but it also has a down side.

  • This should not be patented (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kurt555gs (309278) <kurt555gs&ovi,com> on Sunday April 01 2007, @08:37AM (#18566243) Homepage
    This is an example of how broken our patent system is. Prior art goes back to Tesla, where over 100 years ago he transmitted 100 Watts of AC power 100 miles and recovered 97 Watts of energy. Secondly all RFID chips use this to power themselves. There is NOTHING innovative or novel in this device and it never ever should have been granted a patent.

    I really wonder how far our world could have advanced in the last 200 years if patents either didn't exist or were structured in such a way that they were much more limited in scope.

    Another bad day for us for 17 years.

    Cheers
    • Agreed. If the FCC allowed the company to transmit 1 Watt, which I doubt, then the power would immediately spread throughout the room and beyond. There is no way to keep the power focused unless both the sending and receiving antenna is close to the size of one wavelength, at least, an unacceptable size. And it would certainly not be acceptable to focus the power, because of concerns about health. (At 900 MHz, the wavelength is 33.4 centimeters [demon.co.uk], about 1 foot. If you don't live in the U.S., you may need to k

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