Intel demonstrated a wireless electric power system that could revolutionize modern life by eliminating chargers, wall outlets and eventually batteries all together by 2050. Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner demonstrated a Wireless Energy Resonant Link at Intel’s 2008 developer’s forum.
During the demo electricity was sent wirelessly to a lamp on stage, lighting a 60 watt bulb that uses more power than a typical laptop computer. Most importantly, the electricity was transmitted without zapping anything or anyone that got between the sending and receiving units. “The trick with wireless power is not can you do it; it’s can you do it safely and efficiently,” according to Intel researcher Josh Smith. “It turns out the human body is not affected by magnetic fields; it is affected by elective fields. So what we are doing is transmitting energy using the magnetic field not the electric field.”
Intel Video
Examples of potential applications include airports, offices or other buildings that could be rigged to supply power to laptops, mobile telephones or other devices toted into them. The technology could also be built into plugged in computer components, such as monitors, to enable them to broadcast power to devices left on desks or carried into rooms, according to Smith.
Intel did not develop this idea, researchers at MIT demonstrated the technology in 2007 . In the 1890′s scientist and engineer Nikola Tesla envisioned a world, in which all electricity is transferred wirelessly, but the idea was more or less abandoned and highly efficient copper cables became the basis for modern electricity infrastructure.
Ada Michigan based, Fulton Innovations‘s eCoupled technology, uses inductive coupling and combining it with communications and control properties to deliver on Tesla’s vision of wireless electrical distribution. The technology supplies power and communication through an inductively coupled power circuit that dynamically seeks resonance, allowing the primary supply circuit to adapt its operation to match the needs of the eCoupled-enabled devices it recognizes.
Energizer is using eCoupled technology to make the Energizer Hard Case Professional eCoupled Swivel Light waterproof flashlight that never needs new batteries will go on sale this year. AT CES 2009, Tool manufacturer Bosch brought prototypes that can charge on the workbench or inside their carrying case when the case is placed on a charging surface, which could be in a workshop or even fitted inside a truck ensuring that cordless tools are always ready to go. Texas Instruments is also utilizing the eCoupled technology. Masoud Beheshti, director of battery charge solutions in TI’s battery management solutions group, added: “We look forward to supporting eCoupled-based solutions using our extensive portfolio of charge and power management solutions for all types of portable applications.”
Wireless electrical products are already on the market. Colorado based Wild Charge is licensing their wireless electrical charging systems. They have products available for sale on their website for Blackberry and Motorola phones.
