Wireless Power Now A Reality

SlashRating^© 35 slashdottit! ^tm CSMastermind writes "CNN is reporting on a breakthrough technology. A startup called Powercast has developed and patented a device, the size of a dime and costing 5$ to make, which allows power to be transmitted wirelessly. The device has already gained FCC approval and the company has inked deals with the likes of Phillips. From the article: 'Powercast says it has signed nondisclosure agreements to develop products with more than 100 companies, including major manufacturers of cell phones, MP3 players, automotive parts, temperature sensors, hearing aids, and medical implants. The last of those alone could be a multibillion-dollar market: Pacemakers, defibrillators, and the like require surgery to replace dead batteries. But with a built-in Powercast receiver, those batteries could last a lifetime. '"

Comments

dupe?

[Mr. Capris]

IIRC, there was something like this last year....

Although i could be thinking of the "wireless extension cords" on ThinkGeek...

Re:dupe?

[SEMW]

This isn't an april fools joke -- although I'm pretty sure it's a dupe nevertheless, and it's also not very interesting. It doesn't even use induction; it's just transmitting power by E-M waves -- here, radio waves; which certainly works -- crystal radios anyone? RFID chips? -- but is VERY inefficient (especially if you want to convert the radio waves back into electricity, rather than, say sound, as a crystal radio does), and can't be used to transmit more than tiny amounts of power. The only thing new here is a small increase in efficiency.

Re:dupe?

[The Great Pretender]

There was a report on cnet Jan 7 this year. They unveiled the concept and Philips interest at CES 2007 http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12760_7-9673092-5.htm l

Re:dupe?

[saskboy]

My calculator has had wireless power - from light, for decades. This is such old news ;-)

Re:dupe?

[evilviper]

but is VERY inefficient

It would certainly be idiotic for things like cellphones. However, I could see the technology being incredibly popular for medical implants.

Instead of a $50,000 surgery to replace a battery, you put a little charged coil against your body for a few hours every few months to charge the battery.

Re:dupe?

[SEMW]

What do you think induction is based on if not radio waves? An alternating magnetic field, which induces a current. This is NOT the same as electromagnetic radiation, of which radio waves are an example.

Re:dupe?

[naoursla]

Radio waves are alternating magnetic fields. The faster the field is alternated the more power it has and the further it travels. Go study how an AM transmitter and receiver works. Most AM antennas are simple inductive coils that pick up a modulations in a magnetic field. Building an AM transmitter is one of the simplest projects you can do (and was a project in my first circuits class). All you do is make a periodic signal and bound the amplitude by some input (like from a microphone). Then you run it through a coil of wire to create the alternate magnetic field. The magnetic field then hits the coil in the antenna of the receiver and induces a current. The current passes over a resistor and you measure the voltage level. You run that voltage level through a band pass filter and then through an amplifier and then to a speaker and voila! you get to hear whatever the microphone on the other end is picking up.

Re:dupe?

[Gotta ask yourself..]

Radio waves are alternating magnetic fields.

That's wrong, they are alternating magnetic AND electric fields, orthogonal to each other. That's what electromagnetic radiation means, indeed.

Re:dupe?

[RedElf]

Decades? You thieving little techno-whore, this technology has been in my spaceship since long before the Earth came about.

welcome to the late 1800s

[smash]

Tesla did this sort of thing prior to 1900...

Not april fools

[benh57]

This one's real kids.

Write-up from Jan.

Official Site

Be a real bitch when there's an outage

[oDDmON oUT]

"Frank! I *told* you you should get the cable backup, but noooo....they'd mess up the line of your suit". Shakes head dolefully and flutters hands ineffectually "At least I could have plugged that pacemaker in".

Re:wtf

[jibjibjib]

This one's actually real, though.

Probably NOT an April Fools joke

[jsm300]

If this is an April Fools joke then a lot of work went into establishing background for it. According to a CNET article back in January this company (Powercast) attended CES and mentioned Philips as a partner back then. The article referenced here was written on March 30th (although the URL has 04/01 in the name). That article is in complete agreement with the Cnet article. the Powercast website (powercastco.com) was established last October. Then again, Slashdot has a tradition of a bunch of bogus articles on 04/01, but perhaps this isn't one of them.

Re:OMG Ponies!

[jibjibjib]

No.

This story is legit.

[aphexbrett]

See this arstechnica article from Jan 17 2007.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070117-8639 .html

how dare you

[fermion]

post a real story on april fools day! We barely expect legitimate stories the rest of the year, much less on April 1. Next thing you know stories will be edited to meet standard English requirements.

Re:how dare you

[smash]

Dude, this story was posted on april fools day, to fool those who think it was an april fools into posting crap like "april fools" and "slashdot is so not worth reading until monday", etc..

It's the thinking man's april fools story of the day :D

won't somebody think of the...

[megamerican]

Without wires, the price of copper will drop. What are all of those copper thieves going to do for money now? Maybe now I'll be able to legally melt all of my pennies again.

To recap

[slickwillie]

Let's see. We have:

Power over Ethernet.
Ethernet over power.

Now we can have Ethernet over Power over Wireless over Ethernet over Power over ....

  I think we are almost there.

Lifetime

[evilviper]

Pacemakers, defibrillators, and the like require surgery to replace dead batteries. But with a built-in Powercast receiver, those batteries could last a lifetime.

The batteries already last a lifetime!

As in: when they die, you die.

Re:See you Monday

[l0cust]

What would be funny if this story was correct for a change. Then we will win and you will lose, We will point and laugh and You will cry!

Yeah I need some coffee now.

Double Entendre?

[Roger Wilcox]

I've got an idea:

Lets take a ridiculous sounding true story and then wait until April Fools to post it. No one will believe it, but the joke is still on them!

Umm: Microwave?

[Irvu]

Microwave power transmission has been a reality since at least the 60's and is still in use today (just don't get in the way :). See Das Vikipediem for more info. I believe also that Nikolai Tesla did some little work in this area again see El Viki

Don't get me wrong I applaud any technology the size of a dime that can be made for $5 and transmit power safely for our nifty home devices and pacemakers but, due respect to CNN's science guys I ain't about to go out and buy Powercast's stock just yet. Especially since the most common use of bradcast power (the Radarange) nd medical tech (pacemakers) are rumoured not to get along together.

I wish for you to reply for a business oppotunity

[jimmydevice]

I would like to invest in your development of this super power source. This requires a private arrangement. My company, IM-krook LTD has reviewed your patent and find it valid. IM-krok will be willing to fund the progjct for $40,000,000 Million dollars. USA. We will need a bank deposit number and credit card numbers with pins to verify your sincerity^w^w^w^w. You will receive these funds underlegal claims; all legal documents will be carefully worked out to ensure a risky free transfer. I am willing to pay a generous management fee as well as appreciation as soon as this transaction is financialy sponcored & completed by you. I have all the details. All correspondences will be via email, for now. The funds in question are quite large. I will expect a straight answer from you. Yes or no. If yes, Kindly furnish me with your personal information which must includ your direct cell phone and fax number, your address and company name, then lets work out the modalities from there Thanks and God bless you, Mr. David Yong. Phone: (44) 7024097815

This is actually actually real, here's the patent

[Tatarize]

http://assignments.uspto.gov/assignments/q?db=pat& pat=7027311

  Total Assignments: 2
Patent #:7027311
Issue Dt: 04/11/2006
Application #: 10966880
Filing Dt: 10/15/2004
Publication #:US20050104453
Pub Dt:05/19/2005
Inventors:Timm A. Vanderelli, John G. Shearer, John R. Shearer
Title:

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A WIRELESS POWER SUPPLY

SimCity 2000

[Fissure_FS2]

But... the microwave power plant shouldn't be available until around 2028; that's what the strategy guide said!

Actually, I dont think it is an april fools joke:

[absentmindedjwc]

I am not too sure that this is an april fools joke... as an april fools joke normally only falls on April 1st.... I seen this on digg over a week ago. It was on multiple sites, from CNN Money, to CNet reviews...

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-12760_7-6676861-1.htm l?tag=promo

and this one is from January...
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12760_7-9673092-5.htm l?tag=txt

check out the company page at powercastco.com

Old science, new engineering.

[CrazyJim1]

"If you had asked me seven months ago if this was possible, I would have said, 'Are you dreaming? Have you been smoking something?'" says Govi Rao

I thought this was common knowledge 10 years ago, just not the engineering side.

NOT april fools.

[Devistater]

Official webpage: http://www.powercastco.com/ Also, they were picked "Best Emerging Technology at CES 2007" Theres other links availible on their webpage (and from google), and NONE of the source articles are dated April 1st.

Not an April Fools

[mustafap]

This has already been reported. There is nothing new here, really: it's just an efficient transformer.

My concern is just how efficient will it be? We waste huge amounts of energy already with directly coupled chargers that are left plugged in and powered when not in use. This is just a *less* efficient version of the same.

So, anyone have any figures for efficiencies compared to direct connection chargers?

Energy waster

[FridayBob]

Up to 70% efficient means at least a 30% energy loss; when recharging millions of little devices, that all adds up to a lot of waste. In virtually all cases, recharging the old fashioned way is likely to be better for the environment. However, it looks set to become so popular, that I wonder if we'll be given the choice. I hate wires too, and the convenience of this invention is obvious, but it also has a down side.

This should not be patented

[kurt555gs]

This is an example of how broken our patent system is. Prior art goes back to Tesla, where over 100 years ago he transmitted 100 Watts of AC power 100 miles and recovered 97 Watts of energy. Secondly all RFID chips use this to power themselves. There is NOTHING innovative or novel in this device and it never ever should have been granted a patent.

I really wonder how far our world could have advanced in the last 200 years if patents either didn't exist or were structured in such a way that they were much more limited in scope.

Another bad day for us for 17 years.

Cheers