Sony Prototype Sends Electricity Through the Air

[imz]

Despite the numerous technologies that exist for sending data through the air there's one cable that most gadgets can't do without at some time. The power cable remains a necessary but sometimes unsightly part of many modern electronic appliances -- but now even that might be on the way out.

Sony has developed a prototype power system that can send enough electricity to power a television set wirelessly over a short distance, it said Friday. In tests the company succeeded in sending a conventional 100 volt electricity supply over a distance of 50 centimeters to power a 22-inch LCD television.

The system achieves this feat through magnetic resonance. A power supply feeds electricity into a square coil of wires 40 cm across, called the primary coil, to produce a magnetic field. When a secondary coil is brought within the magnetic field this causes a current to be induced and so the electricity transfer is completed.

Both devices have to be tuned to the same resonant frequency for the power transfer to be successful but that also means exact alignment of the two coils isn't necessary, said Sony. It also means that metallic devices placed inside the magnetic field won't cause them to heat up.

There are drawbacks, including the system's efficiency and the distance over which it works. Sony's prototype set-up was 80 percent efficient, which meant a fifth of the power fed into it was wasted. Further losses occured in circuitry connected to the secondary coil so the original 80 watts of power was cut by roughly a quarter to 60 watts once it had made its way through the system.

To extend the distance the company said it has developed passive relay units that, when placed between the primary and secondary coils, can extend the total range up to 80 cm.

Sony's announcement on Friday was of development of the basic technology for the system. As such there are no details on when it might reach the commercialization stage and begin appearing in products.

source:PC World

 

[Scott-105]

That's pretty awesome.

 

[Chris_Skylock]

we are planning to develop a bluetooth charger which uses wireless to charge you gadget but this one is a reality and it'll be in the future soon.

 

[Deleted_171835]

This is awesomeness! Sending electricity in the air to your appliances (or for now television)!

 

[nIxx]

That´s pretty old
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/57757.html?wlc=1254574085

 

[Raika]

Wow, that is freaking cool. But what if a person with wet hands or a wet body walks past the electricity?

 

[IzzehO]

That's REALLY old. Quotes Tesla's 1890's work.....

 

[Psyfira]

It's a nice idea on paper. But I'm not convinced. They'd have to significantly increase the distance to make this worth using; 80cm isn't really going to save you tripping over any trailing cables. I'm aware that they will refine the technology so the figures from this proof of concept can't be read in stone but if there's *any* kind of extra power loss (40% quoted in time of writing) I'd rather use a cable and save on my electricity bill. Then there's the environmental impact to consider.

Those are some pretty big hurdles they're going to have to jump if this is ever going to be anything more than an experiment in a lab. Wireless power is cool, but I have to wonder if it's really nessasary for non-mobile appliances like televisions.

 

[Cablephish]

I hope the method of induction is safe. Wouldn't want to be sticking my hand behind there if it's gonna kill me... Maybe they'll come with the next PS3 remodeling.

 

[Golfman560]

Wow, that is freaking cool. But what if a person with wet hands or a wet body walks past the electricity?

Its basically a magnetic wave that sends the energy so you wouldn't have any problems. The only issue they've had so far is sending more energy needs more magnetism, but at that point its disrupting electronic devices in the area. Its really cool stuff to look into.

However wireless energy isn't exactly useful. Sure it gets rid of wires, but wouldn't you rather have wired internet to get better speeds? And when you're charging a phone you'd still have to keep it in an area while charging it so just attaching a wire to it is just as restrictive.

Just my 2 cents. I hope it goes farther than 60W

 

[Cablephish]

Wow, that is freaking cool. But what if a person with wet hands or a wet body walks past the electricity?

Its basically a magnetic wave that sends the energy so you wouldn't have any problems. The only issue they've had so far is sending more energy needs more magnetism, but at that point its disrupting electronic devices in the area. Its really cool stuff to look into.

However wireless energy isn't exactly useful. Sure it gets rid of wires, but wouldn't you rather have wired internet to get better speeds? And when you're charging a phone you'd still have to keep it in an area while charging it so just attaching a wire to it is just as restrictive.

Just my 2 cents. I hope it goes farther than 60W

In terms of internet, I know where you're coming from. I get wireless on the PS3, because the internet was going slow having the router behind the tv, but we put the router and modem behind the tv to get wired internet for the PS3, and it was pretty fast. Then all the other wireless computers and devices in the house started working horribly. So we had to change the wireless back to where it was before, and my PS3 internet sucked again...

 

[Maz7006]

we are planning to develop a bluetooth charger which uses wireless to charge you gadget but this one is a reality and it'll be in the future soon.

Who's we?

do you work at SONY.

 

[playallday]

It most likely gives off a lot of radiation...

 

[CheatingSoi]

I know this isnt possible, but think of your house as being your central charging base for your phone. If this was able to go a huge distance, or you have just a bunch of these chargers all over itd be cool.

Say your phone is in your pocket, it needs charging, you walk in your front door and it just charges in your pocket and you dont even have to think about it.

 

[Veho]

What's all the hubbub all of a sudden? They've had a working prototype of this at MIT three years ago.

 

[FAST6191]

@Veho this is one of those things that crops up once a year or so and has done for the entire time I have been playing this science game. Next in the cycle is probably some form of rotary engine, some use of various elements to improve semiconductors (works fine and indeed military and high end people use it but some of them are known are rare earth elements for a reason), some louder banging on the fuel cell drum and maybe a bit of doom and gloom to round the year out (peak oil- shale oil, lithography limits in semiconductors and maybe another biology/disease scare).

Others it is a bit enthusiastic but http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_...lectricity.html is pretty good if you want more info and a grounding in the subject.

 

[coolbho3000]

I don't think the supposed merits of wireless power in consumer devices outweighs the consequences of the lower efficiencies it brings.

 

[IzzehO]

@Veho this is one of those things that crops up once a year or so and has done for the entire time I have been playing this science game. Next in the cycle is probably some form of rotary engine, some use of various elements to improve semiconductors (works fine and indeed military and high end people use it but some of them are known are rare earth elements for a reason), some louder banging on the fuel cell drum and maybe a bit of doom and gloom to round the year out (peak oil- shale oil, lithography limits in semiconductors and maybe another biology/disease scare).

Others it is a bit enthusiastic but http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_...lectricity.html is pretty good if you want more info and a grounding in the subject.

At the same time a slight development is always at least made. Such as in this they claim a better efficiency than MIT's results and a MUCH better method than Tesla's ideas

It is all just the same stuff cycled though, but we all love the concept of new gadgets and the things of the future.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

That's cool. Finally something good from Sony