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Flexible, Plastic Sheets of Power

Posted by Zonk on from the they-have-the-power dept.

bethr writes "Imagine never having to plug in an electronic device to get power? Researchers at the University of Tokyo have demonstrated prototype plastic sheets with copper coils that wirelessly supply power to any device that touches its surface. You just put down your laptop and the pad sends it power: 'An array of organic transistors that detect the position of the gadget and direct current flow.' Apparently, the researchers had enough time to create a spiffy video of their doll house model, complete with a mini Christmas tree, showing off the technology."

16 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. Slashpads? by soleblaze · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Isn't this kind of like Slashpads?

    1. Re:Slashpads? by Pooua · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The difference appears to be that this prototype only applies power to the section of the sheet on which the device is placed, instead of to the entire device. Supposedly, this results in a greater amount of power able to reach the device being charged. I am wondering how much of an improvement in performance this really is?

      --
      Taking stuff apart since 1969 (TM)
  2. Wow! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Funny

    They have reinvented the transformer, except this time there is an open end on it.

    They had better paint it bright red and put warning signs over it, or it will start melting anything placed upon it.

    (I assume I am not the only one to throw my keys and change and the rest of my pocket crap out when I get home)

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
    1. Re:Wow! by EinZweiDrei · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Forgive my sophomoric understanding of the science involved here, but I have a few questions to throw out there for the grad students and pedagogues:

      First, how does one define the abstraction of the pad detecting, as the parent puts forth, if an object "needs" power? What's to stop it from sending just as much power to a piece of conductive metal, say, a penny, as opposed to a cellular phone?

      [As I'm sure someone will naturally assume I'm supposing that a penny is comprised entirely of highly-conductive copper and get didactic on my ass by posting the actual metallurgic composition of a penny, I'll let Wikipedia save us all the trouble: "Copper-plated Zinc: 97.5% Zn, 2.5% Cu".]

      The obvious difference, anyway, between a penny and a cell phone battery is that though both have potential to carry a current, one already holds some charge and the other does not. Can this wireless power technology be made to be "smart" enough to unerringly detect the presence of an existing discrepancy in the electromagnetic field and send power in that specific direction? Aren't there several scenarios in which one could confound the machine? For instance, what's to stop someone to foolishly place, say, a bar magnet on the pad? What effect would this have?

      Anyway, I'm throwing these questions out there in curiosity, and if anyone can lob a pearl or two back, much appreciated.

      --
      Perhaps life really is full of possibilities.
    2. Re:Wow! by EvanED · · Score: 3, Funny
      From TFA:
      The power sheet, says Takao Someya, professor of engineering at the University of Tokyo, relies on the well-known physical principle of electromagnetic induction, used to charge electric toothbrushes and some RFID tags. (Emphasis mine)

      So the device more or less tells the pad that it wants power.
    3. Re:Wow! by Rolo+Tomasi · · Score: 3, Informative

      Read again. It doesn't say that there's any sort of communication involved, what they're saying is that RFID tags use the principle of electromagnetic induction.

      --
      Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
    4. Re:Wow! by Psion · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, no, no. This was an effort at self-deprecating humor by juxtaposing the conclusion that the dentist knows I haven't brushed my teeth through the use of Orwellian technology with the very simple and obvious realization that had I not been brushing my teeth, the dentist should be able to deduce this from a simple observation. The joke relies on inverted parsimony to jab at the intellect of the author.

      Jokes just go so flat when one must explain them. Just ... laugh politely next time and pretend you got it.

  3. Cost? by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Last time I was buying them at home depot, a socket was 79 cents and a cord was a few bucks. Why should I want to replace an already mature, tested, cheap, reliable technology with something that costs a whole lot more, and may direct power to where it is not wanted?

    1. Re:Cost? by djupedal · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Concept...you know - an idea that prompts another idea, as an example?

      Your .79c socket matured decades ago, and will willingly flow power to any conductor able to penetrate one of the hot slots. And despite your very rigid non-stated Edwardian beliefs and desire to put-down something that falls outside that dormant little box you live in, these sheets won't be available @ HD any time soon at any price, so put away the fud and go back to reading by candle light :)

      They are simply another proof-of-concept...something the Japanese love to put on display, of course. I can imagine being able to lay devices on such a device to charge my cell-phone, etc. - anything needing charging...flashlite; iPod; bluetooth headphones; police radio; personal vibrator; PDA...a circuit to detect and communicate with whatever is in contact would be trivial, and an obvious part of any marketable product. You could drop conductors on it all day long, including water, and without a controller to initiate power to the contact zone, nada. Lick it for all it cares.

      Recall the topic here recently about China and South Korea moving to standardized chargers? This falls into the same area, being concept-driven, as it seems to be. Additional/separate & wired chargers would be 'standardized' (as in gone) because they would not be needed with something like this around. The charger-less product would then sell for less, since your home or apartment or hotel room or office desk or car/boat/plane/train armrest would already have one of these built-in.

    2. Re:Cost? by GoulDuck · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Last time I was buying them at home depot, a socket was 79 cents and a cord was a few bucks. Why should I want to replace an already mature, tested, cheap, reliable technology with something that costs a whole lot more, and may direct power to where it is not wanted?

      Why should I have X different chargers for my wireless devices? Imagine your desk if this was build into the table... your phone don't need a wire, wireless mice charge no matter where they are located, your keyboard always works, your PDA is charged when placed on the table and so is your laptop. You could have wires for all these things, but if I could avoid having x numbers of cradles and loose wires on my table, I would like that even more. And as I type this, I could imagine other things: Wireless hard disk (with wireless USB) and wireless desktop speakers, just to keep it in the nerd world and what about your desk lamp and the LCD picture frame :-) And you thought that I was done there? When a friend comes over and discovers that his phone is low on battery and your phone charger doesn't fit? Imagine your friend to be able bring "anything" without having to bring any wires at all.

      This will also solve allot of the cable clutter under the table. Just think of all the things on your table that needs power and then imagine them without wires... Imagine this build into the walls - your speakers, tv and lights didn't need wires! Well, I don't know how it reacts to a nail, but there might be solutions for this too, like having a device that can sense where these things are placed, so you can go around them with your nails and screws.

      Surely I can't be the only one excited about the possibilities with this kind freedom you can have?

  4. Efficiency? by Frogular · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How efficient are these compared to regular adapter + cable? The lack of a magnetic core may mean your utilities bill goes up x2.

  5. Re:Great idea! by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nicola Tesla would be proud...

    Indeed. He wanted to "charge up" the entire planet such that you didn't need wires. I don't think they worried much about environmental movements back then.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  6. Practical Applications by Joebert · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here's a few things I'd like to apply this stuff too.

    1) Wireless mouse pad
    2) Magnetic track-type lighting
    3) Stove top -- Pots/pans/ect would have their own unique heating elements & the entire stove top would be usable

    I'm sure there's plenty of practical applications for somthing like that plastic power...
    4) Power strips with 100% usable surface area.
    ... power strip stuff.

    --
    Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
  7. Hrm by umbrellasd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Would be neat if we could put something like this in roads. Vroom! There's already a lot of power near roads. Electric cars that charge as you drive. Refueling is automatic; cars check in at a pay station once a month for a meter read.

  8. Go back to physics class by Shaiku · · Score: 5, Informative

    Apparently a lot of readers don't understand what induction is, and that this power pad works off that principle. Power isn't routed to a device on top of the pad like many people seem to think. There's no electrical contact between the power source and the device on top of the pad. The device in need of power will have a coil of wire. The power pad will detect where on the pad the device is and then create a virtual coil of wire underneath the device. The two coils of wire do not touch, but they are near enough each other that they create and air-core transformer. In other words, AC current traveling in the pad's coil will electro-magnetically INDUCE an AC current in the device's coil. This is really, really old science. The problem is that in order to transfer a significant amount of power efficiently, the two coils have to be closely coupled to one another. This means that the power pad's coil has to have a small cross-section and be located directly under the device to be powered. By detecting where the device is with, say, a pressure sensor, and then using semiconductors to dynamically route a current in a virtual coil directly underneath the device, this power pad allows for the device to be placed haphazardly in virtually any location on top of the pad. This is the same principle that Sonicare toothbrushes use to charge, but imagine now being able to put the toothbrush anywhere on the counter to charge instead of inside a dedicated charging station.

  9. Re:fire by Gnavpot · · Score: 3, Informative
    3) Stove top -- Pots/pans/ect would have their own unique heating elements & the entire stove top would be usable

    I liked your other ideas but this one is terrible. Every pot & pan in your kitchen would heat differently than the other, and not in that minor way that can be attributed to shape and thickness and easily judged at a glance.


    For all known stove technologies, the heating depend somewhat on characteristics of the pots and pans used.

    As others have mentioned, this induction technology is already on the market. We bought our induction stove 8 years ago. It is faster up and down than any other technology, including gas.

    As long as we are using induction enabled pots and pans, the heat difference between each pot and pan is very small, and most important:

    The differences are similar to the differences experienced with the same pots and pans on any other stove. As an example, a thick pan bottom will not change the heat effect, but temperature will change a little slower due to the extra heat capacity, while heat is distributed better due to the larger cross-sectional area.

    Gas was once the best available stove technology. Today, it is only the best technology if you do not know induction or like to cling to old technology.