Hi readers. This is actually old news but I just found out about it and it amazed me. What I'm talking about it wireless electricity, or what its creators call WiTricity.
This technology was created by one Dr. Soljacic and a group of theoretical physicist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology when they managed to light a 60 watt lightbulb from 2 metres away. The efficiency they got at the time was about 50%. The inspiration for this came when Dr. Soljacic was woken up the third time in a row when his wife's phone beeped because it was running out of power. So he thought that with all the electricity flowing in the house, why couldn't the phone charge itself up so he could sleep?
The technology works by something the team calls resonant energy transfer using standard transformers. Transformers are able to increase or decrease electrical energy flowing through an alternating current. The coils in a transformer transfer energy in very short distances.
So, Dr. Soljacic managed to figure out how to make transformers transfer energy over large distances by resonance.
In simple terms, this is how it works. A coil is made to resonate using a radio frequency amplifier. It will then pulse at very high alternating current frequencies with a magnetic field. If you bring another device near the coil that can only work in that frequency, then both the device and coil will strongly couple and magnetic energy can be transfered to the device. That means that electrical energy is turned into magnetic energy and the device will use that magnetic energy and turn it back into electrical energy that it can use.
For a demonstration of the technology and a more detailed explanation, watch this video:
Story source: http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html
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