Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the now-thats-just-crazy dept.
Flibble writes "The BBC has a story about a uk startup offering a mat for charging all your portable devices via magnetic inductive power transfer. Is this the answer to cutting the mountain of chargers I have to carry all the time?" God wouldn't that be a dream come true?
Still, I wonder if this "pad" comes with a warning not to leave credit cards, etc. near it?
If you'd taken the time to read the article, you'd have seen that it says that the pad "...will not even wipe credit cards if you accidentally put one on the pad".
Al.
-- The Daily ACK - Eclectic posts by yet another hacker
Re:Sounds like a great idea....
by
fulldecent
·
· Score: 2, Informative
magnetism has not yet been directly related to radiation poisioning
--
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
Works for my toothbrush, why not?
by
Enry
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Sonicare toothbrushes (teethbrushes?) can already do this, and there are a few other bathroom-type things (elec. razors) that have this capability. This allows the items themselves to be sealed, so you can drop it in the sink, etc. without destroying it.
Re:Dumb Question
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Duh! There are no exposed wires TO short out! The mat sets up an alternating magnetic field and the device being recharged converts that magnetic field back into whatever voltage it needs for its batteries. It's an over-glorified transformer without an iron core!
I've had one of these for a tablet PC for over 10 years now. Toshiba released one for doctors for their tablet PC's back in the mid 90's
Got it with an auction I won that had 20 of those 486 tablet Pc's that used wacom tablets behind the screens for the pointer. Neat device.
-- Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Re:Dumb Question
by
0x4B
·
· Score: 2, Informative
maybe I'm missing your point, but placing objects on the mat doesn't complete a circuit. the mat produces a magnetic field, objects in the field are irradiated and recieve energy.
This device has been in the works for over two years. Popular Science reported this device along time ago as a device to watch out for. And trust me i've been watching out for it. I just wonder if it would shorten the length of batteries... One of the reasons you need to use a real outlet is to push a high charge through the battery so that you get excess material from one side to the other. (I'm grossly simplifying). I doubt a high enough current could be induced through this mat to do this. Granted its probrablly ok for short term use but in the long run i would imagine that it would wear out batteries faster.
Re:Sounds like a great idea....
by
Zathrus
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Well that's not likely, but people with pacemakers are likely to fall over dead if they get too close to one of these mats.
Pacemaker + powerful EM field = powerful EM field + corpse.
I have no idea how close too close would be though...
Lights on ThinkGeek have this
by
Bander
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Charging by magnetic induction. They say, "like magic or something"... Har har. Kinda cool:
Re:Dumb Question
by
cdrudge
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Um...not quite sure what you are asking. There is nothing to short out...well, actually there is internally, but you just lay your device on it and it charges it inductively assuming that you have the SplashModule "receiver" inside your device to "receive wireless power".
Are you confusing conductive with inductive? Inductive is using EMF to transfer the power. I'm starting to see more and more things use inductive recharging systems. I've had a razor that used it as well as many electric cars use it I believe.
Similar Product
by
johnkoer
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Re:What would this do to portable fuel cells?
by
Oculus+Habent
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I'd be much happier carrying around ink cartridge (pen, not printer) sized plastic tubes of alcohol or hydrogen, as long as there are standard sizes. We've had AA, AAA, C, D and more for decades. I inderstand that portable devicees have their own special shape issues, but a single style of fuel cell would be a huge help.
The article says that devices will have to install a module (less than a millimeter thick, and costing about $0.25) in order to make use of the pad. And as long as I get a day of use out of my device, I don't care if it takes all night to charge.
This is an awesome innovation and just the excuse I've been looking for to upgrade my cellphone:)
Re:Sounds like a great idea....
by
TummyX
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Um. Hate to tell you this but that monitor you're sitting infront of has an EMF and so does the planet you're sitting on.
Re:Sounds like a great idea....
by
hurtta
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· Score: 5, Informative
... until everyone's head explodes from all the radiation.;)
magnetism has not yet been directly related to radiation poisioning
Well, also light is radiation.
radiation is not necessary same than radioactive
variable magnetic field ->
variable electrical field
== this (combination) is electro-magnetic radiation
How about micro wave oven?
However; energy levels are probably LOT smaller
Re:Along these lines...
by
eXtro
·
· Score: 4, Informative
This sounds quite a bit like Tesla's original idea for the distribution of electricity, but at a more practical level. Tesla's idea was that a huge tesla coil would sit in the middle of a town and all electronic devices would be powered off of the very high frequency EM pulses from it. The two major problems (ok, three if you count the tesla coil) were that there was no way to meter usage, and the 1 of distance squared fall off in intensity once you got a resonalbe distance from the coil. The charging pad solves these problems. However, I think it will waste a bit of electricity. It would be better to have a charging "box" so less energy gets wasted.
--
Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.
Re:Are you watching USPTO?
by
rzbx
·
· Score: 2, Informative
"The technology developed by SplashPower is based on the principle of magnetic inductive power transfer.
Inductive charging systems are already used in products like rechargeable electric toothbrushes."
They based it on a principle they did not discover. The technology already exists and all they did was make a slight improvement. So they deserve to own the rights to the technology all of a sudden?
Personally I'm against all patents (Based on many many many many hours of reading about the subject). Yet, I know most people do not agree with that. Still, what is so new that they did here to get a patent if you really believe in it? Slight improvement? If you did some reading on the legal side of patents you'd see that for one they would be infringing on a patent if one existed for the technology already. Second, if they did receive one, due to the way lawyers seem to do things, they could charge royalties on all those previous products similar to theirs. Don't think so? The companies that have to pay royalties have two choices. One is pay up in royalties, or second is pay up in legal fees to fight the patent, which will cost many times more than the royalties themselves. The rate at which companies spend on legal fees is increasing constantly. Less is put into technology investment due to this, or the cost is just passed to the customers.
How much do you really know about patents to make such a statement as you did?
-- Question everything.
Re:Sounds like a great idea....
by
sfe_software
·
· Score: 4, Informative
... until everyone's head explodes from all the radiation.;)
I know you meant this in humor, but all this basically does is take a standard AC power transformer, and split it into two parts. The "primary" coil is in the charger unit, while the "secondary" coil is in the unit itself. Placing the two cores close to each other will complete the transformer.
I think it's great. If everyone can standardize on the specs, we can have a single charger for many items. Imagine only having to buy one car charger for all (most) of your portable devices.
This would NOT be a good idea for something that is magnetically sensitive, as it would effectively erase floppy/hard disks, cassette tapes, etc...
The "radiation" would be the same that you'd get from any standard "wall wart" plug-in transformer.
Re:Dumb Question
by
brakk
·
· Score: 3, Informative
The principal is the same thing that makes the current charger for your phone or power supply for your laptop work. They all have a transformer inside to step down the voltage coming from the wall. 110VAC goes through one coil in the transformer which is held close to another coil that is wrapped different so you get a lower AC voltage out the other side. There is no electrical connection, but since it's AC power, it creates a magnetic field that is picked up by the second coil. Then, it's just run through a rectifier and a filter to convert it to DC voltage to plug into your phone.
This is also the same concept that makes security badges at the last two companies I've worked for function. You get a sealed plastic badge that you just hold up next to (within about 5 inches) a "block" on the wall and it reads the data off it. The badge doesn't have a battery in it but is still able to transmit and never runs down. It works because the "block" is transmitting a low frequency radiation that is picked up by a coil in the badge which supplies power to it. That activates the circuit built into it (that has a number hard coded into it) and a tiny radio transmitter that transmits the number back to the "block" on a higher frequency. Both the badge and the "block" are encased in plastic and have no electrical connection to each other.
Slashdot Mirror
Those things are charegd by induction for a long time already.
Still, I wonder if this "pad" comes with a warning not to leave credit cards, etc. near it?
If you'd taken the time to read the article, you'd have seen that it says that the pad "...will not even wipe credit cards if you accidentally put one on the pad".
Al.The Daily ACK - Eclectic posts by yet another hacker
magnetism has not yet been directly related to radiation poisioning
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
Sonicare toothbrushes (teethbrushes?) can already do this, and there are a few other bathroom-type things (elec. razors) that have this capability. This allows the items themselves to be sealed, so you can drop it in the sink, etc. without destroying it.
Duh! There are no exposed wires TO short out! The mat sets up an alternating magnetic field and the device being recharged converts that magnetic field back into whatever voltage it needs for its batteries. It's an over-glorified transformer without an iron core!
I've had one of these for a tablet PC for over 10 years now. Toshiba released one for doctors for their tablet PC's back in the mid 90's
Got it with an auction I won that had 20 of those 486 tablet Pc's that used wacom tablets behind the screens for the pointer. Neat device.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
maybe I'm missing your point, but placing objects on the mat doesn't complete a circuit. the mat produces a magnetic field, objects in the field are irradiated and recieve energy.
This device has been in the works for over two years. Popular Science reported this device along time ago as a device to watch out for. And trust me i've been watching out for it. I just wonder if it would shorten the length of batteries... One of the reasons you need to use a real outlet is to push a high charge through the battery so that you get excess material from one side to the other. (I'm grossly simplifying). I doubt a high enough current could be induced through this mat to do this. Granted its probrablly ok for short term use but in the long run i would imagine that it would wear out batteries faster.
Well that's not likely, but people with pacemakers are likely to fall over dead if they get too close to one of these mats.
Pacemaker + powerful EM field = powerful EM field + corpse.
I have no idea how close too close would be though...
Charging by magnetic induction. They say, "like magic or something"... Har har. Kinda cool:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5cf5/
(I'm not trying to sell you these, I'm not affiliated with ThinkGeek, yadda yadda...)
-- Bander
What we need more of is science!
Um...not quite sure what you are asking. There is nothing to short out...well, actually there is internally, but you just lay your device on it and it charges it inductively assuming that you have the SplashModule "receiver" inside your device to "receive wireless power".
Are you confusing conductive with inductive? Inductive is using EMF to transfer the power. I'm starting to see more and more things use inductive recharging systems. I've had a razor that used it as well as many electric cars use it I believe.
MobileWise has a similar product.
I saw both of these reviewed on TechTV because they were at the CES show a couple of months back.
They seem pretty cool but I really do not want to see the pricetag.
Johnkoerner.com
I'd be much happier carrying around ink cartridge (pen, not printer) sized plastic tubes of alcohol or hydrogen, as long as there are standard sizes. We've had AA, AAA, C, D and more for decades. I inderstand that portable devicees have their own special shape issues, but a single style of fuel cell would be a huge help.
Motorola developed an alcohol-based battery replacement in early 2000, but no word since then.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
The article says that devices will have to install a module (less than a millimeter thick, and costing about $0.25) in order to make use of the pad. And as long as I get a day of use out of my device, I don't care if it takes all night to charge.
:)
This is an awesome innovation and just the excuse I've been looking for to upgrade my cellphone
Um. Hate to tell you this but that monitor you're sitting infront of has an EMF and so does the planet you're sitting on.
Nikola Tesla proposed this around 1890 or so.
Chris Kuivenhoven is a thief, beware
This sounds quite a bit like Tesla's original idea for the distribution of electricity, but at a more practical level. Tesla's idea was that a huge tesla coil would sit in the middle of a town and all electronic devices would be powered off of the very high frequency EM pulses from it. The two major problems (ok, three if you count the tesla coil) were that there was no way to meter usage, and the 1 of distance squared fall off in intensity once you got a resonalbe distance from the coil. The charging pad solves these problems. However, I think it will waste a bit of electricity. It would be better to have a charging "box" so less energy gets wasted.
Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.
"The technology developed by SplashPower is based on the principle of magnetic inductive power transfer.
Inductive charging systems are already used in products like rechargeable electric toothbrushes."
They based it on a principle they did not discover. The technology already exists and all they did was make a slight improvement. So they deserve to own the rights to the technology all of a sudden?
Personally I'm against all patents (Based on many many many many hours of reading about the subject). Yet, I know most people do not agree with that. Still, what is so new that they did here to get a patent if you really believe in it? Slight improvement? If you did some reading on the legal side of patents you'd see that for one they would be infringing on a patent if one existed for the technology already. Second, if they did receive one, due to the way lawyers seem to do things, they could charge royalties on all those previous products similar to theirs. Don't think so? The companies that have to pay royalties have two choices. One is pay up in royalties, or second is pay up in legal fees to fight the patent, which will cost many times more than the royalties themselves. The rate at which companies spend on legal fees is increasing constantly. Less is put into technology investment due to this, or the cost is just passed to the customers.
How much do you really know about patents to make such a statement as you did?
Question everything.
I know you meant this in humor, but all this basically does is take a standard AC power transformer, and split it into two parts. The "primary" coil is in the charger unit, while the "secondary" coil is in the unit itself. Placing the two cores close to each other will complete the transformer.
I think it's great. If everyone can standardize on the specs, we can have a single charger for many items. Imagine only having to buy one car charger for all (most) of your portable devices.
This would NOT be a good idea for something that is magnetically sensitive, as it would effectively erase floppy/hard disks, cassette tapes, etc...
The "radiation" would be the same that you'd get from any standard "wall wart" plug-in transformer.
NGWave - Fast Sound Editor for Windows
The principal is the same thing that makes the current charger for your phone or power supply for your laptop work. They all have a transformer inside to step down the voltage coming from the wall. 110VAC goes through one coil in the transformer which is held close to another coil that is wrapped different so you get a lower AC voltage out the other side. There is no electrical connection, but since it's AC power, it creates a magnetic field that is picked up by the second coil. Then, it's just run through a rectifier and a filter to convert it to DC voltage to plug into your phone.
This is also the same concept that makes security badges at the last two companies I've worked for function. You get a sealed plastic badge that you just hold up next to (within about 5 inches) a "block" on the wall and it reads the data off it. The badge doesn't have a battery in it but is still able to transmit and never runs down. It works because the "block" is transmitting a low frequency radiation that is picked up by a coil in the badge which supplies power to it. That activates the circuit built into it (that has a number hard coded into it) and a tiny radio transmitter that transmits the number back to the "block" on a higher frequency. Both the badge and the "block" are encased in plastic and have no electrical connection to each other.