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A New Wireless Power Transmission Sheet
Roland Piquepaille writes "Several companies have started to sell power 'pads' that can charge your cellphone when you put it on the pad's surface. But these silicon-based pads are expensive — and relatively 'specialized.' Now, Japanese researchers have built a plastic sheet which could power all the devices placed close to it. So far, this 4-layer sheet, which uses printed organic transistors and plastic MEMS switches, can deliver up to 40 watts of power — enough for some laptops. The technology is apparently efficient and inexpensive to produce. But as the devices to recharge will need to incorporate a special receiver, don't expect to see these plastic power sheets on sale before several years."
I really do have a large mess of cables everywhere (desk, house, around my bed, etc.) and I'd love this. It would be great to get rid of these.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
How many laptops are there that use 40 watts? I don't know of any, thats a little over 2 Amps at 18 volts, i guess they exist.
:)
Still, sounds interesting but as always its going to take some massive manufacturer to incorporate it for it to take off. Probably Sony
Monkeyboi
i remember this. good to see it's making its way to the market.
If you were right, bluetooth would not exist, and we'd just use the little wire.
but you're wrong. wires are a bitch. and now that you can transfer the data wirelessly, it's highly desirable to be able to transmit power wirelessly as well.
This is also absolutely necessary in a hospital setting; currently you have to have covers over all ports. Eliminate the ports, eliminate the covers, make the device more fluid-resistant, it's a win-win-win situation.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
this one's tagged "fuckroland ohnoitsroland pigpail pigpile shill"
Just like every Chinese fab is making electronics accessories for laptops and cell phones and such, expect that, if these things get cheap enough, we'll start seeing adapters to clip onto the bottom of phones that will take power from the pad.
Shortly after that, expect to start seeing universal adaptor kits at Radio Shack with a switch-selector voltage output, and 87 plugs, to connect to a generic charger. Maybe a charger base with 3 outputs.
The application for such a pad is MUCH larger than the article implies. It won't require manufacturers to integrate such receivers until well after their acceptance, which will drive down the price per unit to incorporate them into devices.
This space for rent. Call 1-800-STEAK4U
Now, I may be wrong, but I believe that 93% is the efficiency of electricity being generated at the power plant and then sent to you, however many miles away. So it's not an either-or thing, it's an extra loss. Instead of losing 7% of the generated electricity, you lose nearly 25%. This is ridiculous compared to the effort of just plugging your damn devices in.
Just build it yourself! Its a simple induction circuit! implement it into your technology today! Don't wait + pay!
...don't expect to see these plastic power sheets on sale before several years."
Seriously, how hard is this editing schtick? Did you know there are lots of resources on the web for proper sentence structure?
Sure it's cool to charge your gadgets with a little plastic pad, but I contend it's more fun with a Tesla coil
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
Just sit on it for a few minutes, and, voila, you are sterile (at least for a while). The possibilities are endless!
Which little wire? Why should I have a separate charger for each device?
That's why I think this is a cool device.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Another Roland article. Time to rack up more advertising hits....
:)
Please tag as 'ohnoitsroland' -- thank you
sigfault (core dumped)
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
Actually, the GP is right, it is stupid. You do not get rid of the power wires. The plastic sheet, which lays on on your table and induces electric current on everything around, is powered via a wire.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra
Why don't we power cars like this? I can see how 'charging' stations (or, I guess, tesla coils) can be installed every mile or so and be used to charge electric cars, making it so that recharging our electric cars becomes rare. I see this as an option to one's electric bill. It certainly would make owning an electric car a lot more practical, and more enviro-friendly. Yes I understand the power has to come from somewhere, but chances are the electricity is coming from, at least partially, renewable sources rather than burning gas. Is this feasible?
This is a great idea. But it needs to be standardized, so everything recharges from any pad. Otherwise we'll be back in wall transformer hell. This one is about the third scheme for doing this, and so far, they're incompatible.
If it's done totally wrong, there will be an encrypted handshake between the pad and the device receiving power, so only authorized devices can recharge. Like printer ink cartridges.
Is that your life has been a living hell for the past several decades due to the maddening fact that you had to plug things into the wall. At long last, your troubles are over. A separate charger for every device? That's not a world I want to live in.
a guy named Tesla. you have a half-million volts running around the place, it doesn't take much of an antenna for induced voltage to hot up any circuit in the area.
;)
not to mention, you can't pull big-ass arcs with a pencil off anything metal when you're near that little charge-o-pad, can you?
entertainment worth a few semiconductor junctions
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Just build receivers that fit the battery slot.
Sure, this sheet does require a wire, but that wire can be plugged in once and left connected. Especially useful if many devices can be charged by one pad. In the case of charging and powering mobile devices, the wire isn't as bad as having to plug it in and unplug it, possibly keeping track of multiple plugs and wires. Minor difference for a single device but a larger difference for multiple devices.
Not only is the GP right, I would contend that this is much less useful than Bluetooth. Bluetooth has a range often measured in meters, not centimeters. Wouldn't it look silly if your phone was almost dead and someone called you while it was charging on this thing? You wouldn't be able to pick up the phone so you would have to lay your head on the phone!
Wireless charging is neat but the range needs to be vastly improved to be useful.
yeah, 'cause bluetooth works SOOO well
-Tony
Here someone is suggesting letting free many watts.
Just ain't going to ever be approved.
It doesn't take much power, under a watt, to make instant cataracts. Ask any old radar operator.
The parent makes an excellent point. This tech is a complete waste of electricity for a very minor convenience.
I don't know anything about hospitals, but I can't agree with you about wires being "a bitch". It's a wire. How is that a "bitch"? What is Bluetooth used for? To eliminate wires? Are you serious?
I don't respond to AC's.
what did you think it was for? eliminating macramé tea cozies?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Plug your phone into the little wire, and be done with it.
Which little wire? I've got a dozen of them, all of them on different wall warts, which of course can't all be plugged in at once in the same spot. In the absence of a big wall wart with a dozen little wires, each with their own configurable voltage and interchangeable tips, I'll take the next best thing, which is this.
In fact, given that I really need this, I'm willing to buy the egg now, and wait for the chicken to come along (or vice versa) instead of sitting out the chicken vs egg argument.
The problem I see is that you are losing 20% of your power for the sake of convenience. The last thing we need is another way to throw power away needlessly. We should be looking at ways to increase our power production and transmission efficiency.
I'd love to lose the power cords, but not at the cost of destroying the climate.
-All that is gold does not glitter - Tolkien
www.ra
They could have used an inductive coil to transfer energy. It's much cheaper! An electric toothbrush I had
used this technoilogy. I'm also designing a charge pad for a robot I am designing, simple inductive
connection. it seems like some engineers don't understand AC electricity or the work that Nikola Tesla did.
No need for expensive pads!
This is Slashdot, I haven't read the article. But is there any particular reason that the wire needs to be running to a wall socket? Why couldn't the wire be in the all and the charging devices sit on a small shelf? You walk in the door and empty your pockets, toss your keys, change, cell phone, pda, etc on the shelf? When you go to use them or to leave the next day, you pick up your fully charged cell phone.
With a slight increase in range these could maybe be put into ceiling panels. What would be really great is if standards were developed like those for batteries and devices were made to conform to the standards. The receivers and panels would be tuned to different standards. When you walk within range of a charging panel your device automatically begins to charge without you doing anything. Now imagine the charging panels are everywhere. Hospitals, Living rooms, McDonalds, Office Buildings, the bus station.
Except for large devices (and maybe this can eventually support large devices) wall sockets and charging or even thinking of charge becomes a thing of the past.
I had no idea. I would never imagine that somebody would invent an entire technology just to charge gadgets. It seems beyond ridiculous to me. It seems like a solution in search of a (real) problem.
I don't respond to AC's.
Wireless Keyboards, Mice, Monitors, Printers all powered from the middle of a chunk of wood. I'd buy that.
Python coder | PyQt Applications | Writer
I should proof read.
'Why couldn't the wire be in the all '
Should be
'Why couldn't the wire be in the wall'
Have the charging pad double as a mouse pad, and the phone double as a wireless mouse. For me the key is limiting the number of devices I carry, and the amount of crap on my desk.
hawass
My toothbrush does this already...
Is a bit of a misnomer in this context. It's more appropraitely power for wireless devices is it not?
The opinions listed above reflect the positions of management, largely cause I am management.
No reason at all. The wires are already in the walls. But you do have to poke holes in the wall to get to them. Most houses are built with this in mind, so the contractors pre-poke some holes for you and put a little cover on so you don't have to worry about brushing up against the exposed wiring.
We call those pre-poked holes, "wall outlets."
If you're talking about making the whole wall a charging wall, I suppose you could do that too. But any part of the wall without shelves installed would be useless for charging, and you could damage the pad by installing built-in furniture if you're not careful.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Indeed. Why not put effort into standardizing power connectors (magnetic, or did Apple manage to patent that?). I'm all for labor-saving devices, but this is absurd.
A product which started out as a joke, which someone didn't get... Hmmm, wireless phones, wireless networks, how about wireless power! Ha!
The whole point about wireless is mobility - with this you still have to put the device in a particular place.
'If you're talking about making the whole wall a charging wall,'
No, I actually had in mind something flush or near flush with the wall, much like you mount those wall sockets and connected directly to the house wiring like those wall sockets. It would definately be best if these were preinstalled during construction but you could always retrofit one into your home using a larger version of those little blue boxes you can put in the wall to mount sockets where there is no stud (if they are as light as I suspect). Basically you cut a hole, put the box inside, and then use a screw to turn a wedge that extends out behind the drywall on each side of the box. You then screw what you are mounting into the box and wedge the drywall between the two. It works well but obviously has a weight limit.
The problem with outlets is that by the time you have the outlet itself, and the plug, you can't hide the wire behind the device and still have the device lie anywhere near approaching flat against the wall.
I suppose you could cut a hole and tie direct into the wiring but actually hang the device like a mirror or picture frame. That would require a smaller hole but seems more prone to being bumped or smacked and generally seems like it would be less secure.
yeah, but can you imagine the lawsuits? Oh that power sheet is spreading EMFs and they are making me sick!
just so you realize I'm not making this up...
One link about the Bees
I know, but can't seem to find, one or two about some lady who walks around with a metal mesh on her head to protect her!
i wish i was making that up
- Mike
Once you've lost your temper, you've lost the argument - Me
the idea of the pad is not to charge a single device like a phone, but you put a large pad on your desk, and your laptop, cell, iPod, headset, etc all can charge at the same time, and only use 1 wire to do it. Power cords are easy enough when you only have 1, but I have 7 I can use (iPod, work phone, personal phone, personal notebook, work notebook, bluetooth headset, house phone, ... My wife has another 4 devices of her own. I need 3 whole power strips just for charging cables for the portable stuff, and all that crap uses block based power adapters so I'm only using every other outlet...
It would be an absolute blessing to not have to use cables. Besides the fact that I've had to replace 2 cell phones and 1 notebook motherboard because either I dropped something after plugging it in, or a cat got on the desk and knocked something off, destroying the power jack.
Now, if manufacturers would offer their device WITH the batteries that support this (even for a slight up charge) at time of purchase instead of making me buy expensive REPLACEMENT batteries (or sell it without a battery and let me pick one I like), I'd already have this technology at home. I'd also get one to recharge the wireless game controllers I have. I know they sell adapters that plug into the charge adapter, but that adds significant bulk and potential damage if I snag the dongle cable on something.
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
So yes, the point is to eliminate the wires. Like the one running from the phone to your earpiece. Or to your headphones. Or to your keyboard and mouse. These can all use bluetooth.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
until this came up I had no idea how it worked:
its officially true that slashdot has a use.
educating stupid people like me.
www.tdobson.net #### Dare to Dream #### blog.tdobson.net
plastic sheets transferring power to cableless devices with cables powering plastic sheets...
Wouldn't simply using one adapter for all your devices suffice? If cellphones, pda's etc would STANDARDIZE their power adapters (they won't, so cingular, LG, etc. can continue charging $30!!! for a cellphone charger!) to a standard form factor and voltage, then you could use one, more efficient, auto switching power supply. Then a simple daisy-chain style connector could be created, and bingo, less mess. Devices would simply require a diode-square (polarity protection) and a voltage regulator. Then a simple, two or three pin system could be made (5 and 12 volts). Thus eliminating multiple wall-warts, allowing for daisy-chain or octopus charging, etc. Each extension wire would have a male+female end. This would allow for both chaining and octopus connections. Less loss due to transmission losses, less potentially harmful EM radiation, etc.
ERROR: SIG NOT FOUND (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?:
There is an American company, Powercast, which is claiming to already have FCC approval for wireless power transmission.
If everything needs to be connected to a special reciever for the pad to work, then what's the point of the pad? The only way such a "Transmission Sheet" would be logical is if it could power/recharge appliances SANS adapter.
So what if you could power a laptop? Here's the current method of powering a laptop versus their way:
Current Method:
1) Plug AC adapter into appliance.
*OR*
1) Plug appliance directly into wall.
Proposed Method:
1) Plug appliance into adapter.
2) Place appliance onto pad.
3) Plug AC adapter into pad
Most people have either an AC adapter at work, at home, or both, and the AC adapter is usually left plugged into the wall all the time. Plus, with a corded AC adapter, I can walk around the room, moving between the couch, chair, table, or floor without having to unplug or find a hard surface to plug my laptop into.
A pad is just another useless pice of crap idea to get in the way. It's a fancy way of being less efficient:
1) With a pad, you would need to find a flat surface to put it on, so the pad won't slide off of the surface and the laptop won't slide off the pad, and the pad will make uniform contact with the adapter.
2) The pad will, most likely, require it's own AC adapter. Another annoying cord to get in the way.
3) The adapter will probably plug into the existing AC adapter socket on the laptop, which means that if you want to use a regular AC adapter, you would first have to detach the adapter. I suppose you could put a corded ACA socket on the pad adapter, but then you would need to get the correct voltages, polarity, and post/barrel sizes (if your laptop uses a generic post/barrel configuration), or whichever adapter type the laptop's manufacturer uses. Additionally, you would need even more adapters is you want to use the thing on a plane, and finding space for your pad is unlikely, except if you travel First Class or Business Class. What's more is that a rigid plastic pad is going to take up space, and a flexible plastic pad could get creased, torn, or otherwise damaged.
4) The pad will have to be taken EVERYWHERE you take the laptop. If you want to take the laptop anywhere, you will be balancing the laptop on the pad. This also means that flexible "Power Sheets" are impractical.
5) Expect maddeningly slow recharge times compared to current bare-contact AC adapters. lage power transmission would most likeley result in a field that could possibly damage electronic circuis contained within the appliance.
With a standard AC adapter, all you do is plug in/unplug. Easy. If you want to travel, all you do is wind up the cord and stick it in your case. Most good AC adapters have interchangeable attachments for car and air travel that take up almost no additional space. Plus, AC adapter cords stay secured to the laptop. You can also move about the room carrying just the laptop: No additional equipment.
While interesting, this idea was a massive waste of time, effort, and money, since the old, low-tech plug/unplug method is far simpler and more adaptable then this whole "Power Sheet" concept.
The reason this technology hasn't gone very far past being used in toothbrushes, RFID, Maglev, and stovetops is because it is impractical to use it anywhere else.
High Tech? Yes. Practical? Hardly. Better than current Low-Tech technology? Definitely not!
It's not cordless: The pad still requires a cord to power it. Plus a specialized adapter sill has to be plugged into the laptop/appliance.
So much for Japanese efiiciency.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
China is already going down this path:9 _334047.html
http://english.people.com.cn/200612/19/eng2006121
Hey, folks -- long-time Slashdotter here (check out my 1337 usernumber :) ), and full-time freelance writer. I don't have any inside information about the invention, just the original paper and a FAQ that the developers provided me. And of course I don't speak for Nature or the inventors. But I'm happy to respond to anyone who replies here.
--Tom Geller
http://www.tomgeller.com/
Tom Geller
The power receiver would have to do a bit of voltage conversion and regulation anyhow. No reason it can't do overvoltage protection at the same time.
So why bother having a variable-output base if the receiver needs to convert anyway? Plus, what if you toss multiple devices on the pad at the same time, each with different power requirements? This is the reason I'd want one of these, to eliminate multiple chargers.
Where did it say the output was variable?
The only thing I saw in TFA was that the power was switched off from those sections of the transmitter that didn't have a load sitting on them. This is reasonable: Thin printed conductors means resistive losses. Why waste power heating the coils where nothing is sitting there to be powered?
That doesn't in any way imply that the transmitter changes its output in some way to match the voltage requirements of the ultimate load: That's the function of the antenna and associated electronics on the load.
The transmitter system, like any other transformer or transformer-analog, will change the amount of CURRENT it pulls from ITS power source, depending on how much energy is sucked out of the field it generates. But that's inherent in the physics, not a separate bunch of equipment to perform an additional function.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
In his essay WALDO, Robert Heinlein (ahead of his time again), (link to a synopsis http://www.wegrokit.com/jmwami.htm), raises some concerns regarding the health implications of this type of technology. With all of the radiant energy that we are already pumping through ourselves, what are the health implications of this technology? This won't be adopted in my house until the health implications are sufficiently addressed.
I'm a happy pessimist. I expect and prepare for the worst, when it doesn't happen I am pleasantly surprised.
While standardized plugs would be nice, you still need 4 chargers to charge 4 devices simultaneously. With the pad you'd only need to plug one thing into the wall.
read my post a little further....
ERROR: SIG NOT FOUND (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?:
Oh, I did before I posted the first reply. The pad is still easier. Who wants to search for the wire and the the hole to plug it in when you can just set it down on the pad?
But as the devices to recharge will need to incorporate a special receiver, don't expect to see these plastic power sheets on sale before several years."
Having not yet RTFA (this *is* slashdot) I'd say that if this lack of built-in receivers is the one thing the author thinks will hold it back, he's wrong; the receiver tech should easily be built into dongles attached to standard power connectors that plug into existing devices.
Me lost me cookie at the disco.
Maybe it's just your imagination that sucks.
Then again, someone devoting his life to sell Puppy Chow seems beyond ridiculous to me, so to each his own...
Evanescent Wave Coupling