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Wireless Power Over Distance: Just a Parlor Trick?

Lucas123 writes "Companies like U.S.-based WiTricity and China-based 3DVOX Technology claim patents and products to wirelessly powering anything from many feet away — from smart phones and televisions to electric cars by using charging pads embedded in concrete. But more than one industry standards group promoting magnetic induction and short-distance resonance wireless charging say such technology is useless; Charging anything at distances greater than the diameter of a magnetic coil is an inefficient use of power. For example, Menno Treffers, chairman of the Wireless Power Consortium, says you can broadcast wireless power over six feet, but the charge received will be less than 10% of the source. WiTricity and 3DVOX, however, are fighting those claims with demonstrations showing their products are capable of resonating the majority of source power."

215 comments

  1. this rock you rounded off is useless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    i mean, the amount of effort it took you to make that rock round and then roll a log over it? you could have carried 10 logs in that time. quit with the making new shit, gorg, it isn't useful at all and it isn't like anyone will ever find a way to improve on it. ...
    oh, nice vette, gorg.

  2. As it was before by MakerDusk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Back in the day, Tesla had achieved even greater success. Though if you can charge from anywhere, how can you be billed? That is what will permanently stop this type of technology.

    1. Re:As it was before by ChasmCoder · · Score: 1

      I was just getting on to comment about Tesla. Here Here!

    2. Re:As it was before by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Back in the day, Tesla had achieved even greater success. Though if you can charge from anywhere, how can you be billed? That is what will permanently stop this type of technology.

      Exactly.

      It's not that wireless power distribution is a "parlor trick" - rather, the problem is that the profiteers are doing it wrong.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    3. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That type of technology was (is and will ever be) stopped by the inverse square law. But I think that is the summation of idiots is high enough even the universal laws of universe can be bend in favor of marketing team.

    4. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well what's the equation for it? It doesn't have an equation, therefore it doesn't exist. The theory has to be invented before the phenomenon can exist you know and the theory can only be derived from existing principles all developed in the first half of the 20th century or earlier. Empirical observations and working technology mean nothing and any demo is a scam. /sarcasm (but the Slashdot hive mind wouldn't know it.)

    5. Re:As it was before by Nidi62 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Though if you can charge from anywhere, how can you be billed?

      Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be charged for the amount of power sent, and not the small amount of power received

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    6. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You mean "hear, hear".

    7. Re:As it was before by Randle_Revar · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, and Tesla also cloaked a navy ship and accidentally sent it back in time! And the world is run by Illuminati Lizard-men!

    8. Re:As it was before by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No he did not.
      Tesla needs props, but the Tesla myth does not.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    9. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well what's the equation for it?

      You mean like Maxwell's equations?

      Empirical observations and working technology mean nothing

      You mean like the metric fuck ton of empirical observations related to electromagnetism in every day life and engineering done for a huge swath of technology? I've seen people on the internet claim to found disagreement with Maxwell's equations. Although it seems really funny that things I've designed and built that would be orders of magnitude more sensitive to the various deviations they show work exactly as predicted. Some people don't realize how many things around them wouldn't work if such things were incorrect in such a simple manner (as opposed to say QED effects that only are possible in extreme conditions in atomic/astrophysical/particle physics).

      but the Slashdot hive mind wouldn't know it.

      Yeah, I guess they are supposed to ignore their collective empirical evidence and just pay attention to yours. Only sheeple distrust things they see on the internet.

    10. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Light also follows the law of inverse square, yet we have lasers of focused light beam.

      Anyways, I doubt charging over distance is efficient/ works.

    11. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      yet we have lasers of focused light beam.

      Kind of helps that visible light has a wavelength around million times smaller than radio waves, so you could in principle make a quasi-optical beam that goes a million times further before diverging into a cone than a radio wave beam of the same size...

    12. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is medium-range transmission. A couple meters at the most.

    13. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it fun on ATS?

    14. Re:As it was before by hoboroadie · · Score: 1

      ... if you can charge from anywhere, how can you be billed? That is what will permanently stop this type of technology.

      Exactly. ... the problem is that the profiteers are doing it wrong.

      J.P. Morgan figured he'd stick with the General Electric/Westinghouse business model and eschew the more efficient new technology, as it would not provide the market needed for his copper business.

      --
      They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
    15. Re:As it was before by Telvin_3d · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If anyone went through with this kind of thing they SHOULD be charged by the power sent. It is, after all, taking that much power to charge your device. The wastage is your problem for being too lazy to plug in your phone.

    16. Re:As it was before by rok3 · · Score: 2

      I wish I still had some mod points. You are making too much sense to ignore.

    17. Re:As it was before by aquabat · · Score: 2

      Now, now!

      --
      A republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.
    18. Re:As it was before by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      Back in the day, Tesla [ claimed he ] had achieved even greater success.

      Was waiting for the first Tesla worshipper to show up.

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    19. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There, there ...

    20. Re:As it was before by flyneye · · Score: 1

      Lack of imagination seems to stop it pretty well.
      I could see residential communities utilizing this complete with meters and billing.
      Especially if it can be dispensed at a specific frequency.
      Even without metering, the electricity only goes so far and a fair communal price for usage could be instituted based on general usage and on a flexible rate.
      Hey, radio waves go everywhere, but they seem to be able to charge for XM/Sirius with no problems. Satellite T.V., Wifi, sure there are some using it for free, but that doesn't stop any business models.
      Stretch your head a bit.

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
    21. Re:As it was before by necro81 · · Score: 1

      How can you be billed? You get billed for the 4 kW of electricity you are pumping into the 3DVox's transmitter to be able to enjoy the innumerable benefits of having one room without wires. What a glorious new age we live in! Where we can waste gobs of power to avoid the awful burden of plugging things in!

    22. Re:As it was before by necro81 · · Score: 2

      If anyone went through with this kind of thing they SHOULD be charged by the power sent. It is, after all, taking that much power to charge your device. The wastage is your problem for being too lazy to plug in your phone.

      And I propose an additional surcharge of 100% for using such a ridiculously inefficient and wasteful technology.

    23. Re:As it was before by VoidCrow · · Score: 1

      Assuming you could make the power transfer practical, there's nothing to stop you from implementing an identification protocol over the inductive connection. Sure, it could be spoofed, but at the end of the day, *anything* can.

    24. Re:As it was before by nitehawk214 · · Score: 0

      What, what....

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    25. Re:As it was before by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      ... if you can charge from anywhere, how can you be billed? That is what will permanently stop this type of technology.

      Exactly. ... the problem is that the profiteers are doing it wrong.

      J.P. Morgan figured he'd stick with the General Electric/Westinghouse business model and eschew the more efficient new technology, as it would not provide the market needed for his copper business.

      J.P. Morgan is, in many circles, considered one of the greatest Americans ever.
      It never ceases to amaze me how much praise and adulation the people in this country can heap upon the fantastical image of a person who, in reality, was far more concerned about maximizing his own bottom line than he was about advancing humanity, and was essentially a self-serving traitor to mankind... perhaps that's a testament to the human tendency towards selfishness.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    26. Re:As it was before by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 1

      Except that now the device can have chips in to measure the amount of power being supplied, and if somebody hasn't paid, can cut it off.

      And actually the original problem about how you can be billed was solved by television broadcasters; mostly it relied on people being honest, and occasionally driving around with a truck with equipment to sniff out people that were stealing.

      --

      -WolfWithoutAClause

      "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
    27. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in the butt

    28. Re:As it was before by kurzweilfreak · · Score: 1

      In the butt!

      --

      kurzweil_freak

      5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student

      Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.

    29. Re:As it was before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. I think it was a coalition of J.P. Morgan J.D.Rockefeller and H. Ford who asked Telsla the Question "Where do we put the meter?" No meter, no money, and without a revenue stream, they pulled their funding. Teslas car was all electric, and he could go thousands of miles without a charge. No one was worried about efficiency at the time.

    30. Re:As it was before by ChasmCoder · · Score: 1

      You are very correct! That is precisely what I meant :) I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention ;)

  3. unintended consequences by magarity · · Score: 1, Funny

    Have they tested its ability to charge the phone of someone with a pacemaker or other medical device? Sure, it charged the phone, but he was no longer around to make a call...

    1. Re:unintended consequences by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 1

      Sure, it charged the phone, but he was no longer around to make a call...

      [marketing] So dispense with cables and increase time between charges.[/marketing]

      --
      Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
    2. Re:unintended consequences by kidaxess · · Score: 3, Insightful
  4. Not a Parlor Trick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Very cool actually, if we can ever direct magnetic waves into a coherent beam like form cheaply and conveniently. Right now wireless power charging radiates much like light from a lightbulb, the amount of energy your device receives drops off exponentially as you move away from the charging coil. And any of that energy that's not charging something is wasted.

    If we can, so to speak, target individual devices, and bring the resulting energy transfer up to acceptable levels of efficiency at a good distance then we'll be good. Because if you have to have your device sitting very close to specific spot then there's not really much point in not just plugging it in.

  5. Still... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ... the marketing department and the vaporware wizard are trying to mess with inverse-square law.

    1. Re:Still... by archshade · · Score: 1

      The inverse square law only holds if the the transmitted signal is divergent. If you imaginge a singlepoint that transmits power in all directions equally then you can imagine the power delived as being a series of concentric spheres then the the total power is equal for each sphere. but the power density is the total power divided by the area of the sphere.
      ie.
      collectable power = (area of pick up device*Power transmited)/4*Pi*distance from the transmitter^2
      However if you can make a beam like transmission path the then the area never diverges your power density will never drop. I have no idea how you would even start to do this but if you had a transmitter that sent out a cone rather than a sphere then you could make significant improvements.
      collectable power (area of pick up device*power transmitted/Pi (Tan(1/2 theta) * distance to transmitter)^2.

      This would all work with an infinatly big plane.

      --
      Most Damage is done by people who are AWAKE
    2. Re:Still... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      An infinitely long, non-divergent beam in homogenous material is incompatible with Maxwell's equations. Beyond some problem specific distance, all forms of electromagnetic transmissions will drop off with inverse square or worse. Typically, that distance is on the order of a wavelength or two, or the Rayleigh length in some better designs that using antennas/optics many times larger than the wavelength.

    3. Re:Still... by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      However if you can make a beam like transmission path the then the area never diverges your power density will never drop. I have no idea how you would even start to do this

      I believe the device you're thinking of is a laser.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    4. Re:Still... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A laser with infinite aperture, yes.

      ("infinite aperture" means exactly what it sounds like. No, we can't make one...)

    5. Re:Still... by MickLinux · · Score: 2

      Or a wave tube. There are various things that are readily available, that will serve: for visible light, try those little fiber optic thingies. For radio and microwave, try steel pipe or conduit. For electric, try a strip of drawn copper wire, isolated with either air or polyester/pvc/nylon.

      --
      Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
  6. Bloody Parlor Trick! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    at least until there's a patent on it. *runs, ducks*

  7. No difference between power and radio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Give or take a few details, radio waves and wireless power behave pretty much the same. For a signal source that broadcasts in all directions, the signal strength necessarily will drop proportionally to the square of the distance. The only thing that can prevent this is when the signal is made to be directional, e.g. by broadcasting it from the focal point of a parabola and aiming it at another parabola where it's collected at the focal point again. If you don't make your power signal directional, most of the power is just gonna leak away into the atmosphere.

    With regards to using a parabole to make the signal directional... note that a parabolic shape may not necessarily be needed. Since the power signal is an electromagnetic wave, perhaps the power signal can be made directional using the electromagnetic equivalent of a fresnel lens. So I wouldn't be as fast as to discard the possibility straight away.

    But accomplishing high efficiency by simply embedding a run-off-the-mill charging pad in a concrete wall? Fat chance.

    1. Re:No difference between power and radio by skids · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you don't make your power signal directional, most of the power is just gonna leak away into the atmosphere.

      This is not how these devices are supposed to work... that is to say, this is not the same as radio. It's a near-field, not radiative, effect. Most of the power that does not go into the receiver returns to the transmitter as part of the resonant oscillation (via a collapsing magnetic field.) Some will be lost to fringing, but the percent lost to that per oscillation is much lower than the percent absorbed by a properly tuned receiver, by design.

      Not that I'd advocate this for consumer use, it will still be less efficient than a wire, and I'd rather see consumers suck it up and run a wire where appropriate instead of finding yet one more way to waste energy and pile ruin on our planet. However there may be some very productive niche uses.

    2. Re:No difference between power and radio by Lehk228 · · Score: 2

      the only way to make this efficient is to make the format mandatory and exclusive, every single device must be compatable with every other, that way battery powered devices no longer need charging cables packed in, the expectation is that you have a charging mat.

      no more car chargers, no more wall wart chargers, no more devices disposed of due to worn out charger connections.

      make sure all are compatable, or near compatable with only variability being amperage output, clearly marked on chargers and minimum to charge marked on all devices.

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    3. Re:No difference between power and radio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For a signal source that broadcasts in all directions, the signal strength necessarily will drop proportionally to the square of the distance. The only thing that can prevent this is when the signal is made to be directional, e.g. by broadcasting it from the focal point of a parabola and aiming it at another parabola where it's collected at the focal point again.

      Directional broadcasts are subject to the inverse square loss too at some point, as an infinitely long, non-divergent beam is not a valid solution of Maxwell's equations. Once you get beyond about the Rayleigh length (or a wavelength, if larger) from an antenna, it is going to look pretty much conical in shape and drop off with square of distance. For a ten centimeter antenna setup with something like 2.4 GHz wireless, you would get inverse square drop off beyond 10-20 cm (or say beyond 10 m for a 1 m antenna setup).

    4. Re:No difference between power and radio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you want your mobile phone charger to be compatible with charging your electric car!?

    5. Re:No difference between power and radio by skids · · Score: 1

      no more car chargers, no more wall wart chargers, no more devices disposed of due to worn out charger connections.

      However this problem could be fixed without ever leaving the wired space. To some extent, it is already being fixed with USB, but for higher power devices, PoE/PoE+ might be a good thing to encourage, even for non-networked devices.

      Now if we could just get them to stop changing the damn connectors all the time.

    6. Re:No difference between power and radio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone doesn't understand that huge Currents flow in a plasma like lightning,
      Radio has resistance via the air
      ionized air like in an ionized gas tube or lightning has little :
      Tesla semi harnessed what lightning does naturally .
      It Is not radio, everything he did was though ionized air

      A Lightning bolt for example 5000 Amperes plus average current travels 5 - 7 miles over air
        how? its called ionized ,The power loss is tiny

    7. Re:No difference between power and radio by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

      it has to be, anyways, so why not. if the charging field was harmful to other devices nobody would install them. (forget to shut off your car charger, nuke all your electronics) so why not make them using the same standards? nobody would fire up the car coil to charge a cell phone, but it might be useful for corporate users to have an IT closet with a car coil that charges 200 laptops at the same time

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  8. Re:Tesla by Pentium100 · · Score: 5, Informative

    You also have to consider the efficiency. Running a 1GW power plant just to light a 100W light bulb a few kilometers away does not seem a good idea.

    Yes, it is possible to transfer power without wires - radio has been doing it for a long time (a simple crystal radio set does not need any power other than what it gets from the antenna, but you'd better have some sensitive headphones, a big antenna and a station that is relatively close). The problem is transferring a lot of power efficiently and without huge antennas.

  9. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did his plan not come to fruition? If you notice, earth return power systems travel miles and miles and miles through the ground without wires to get back to the source (aka the power plant). I can go to the local airport and view information regarding large amounts of power emitted out into the air, which is called radar.

  10. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tesla didn't have to worry about FCC regulation on how much RF power he could transmit on his coils back then in the dark ages before wireless communication,

  11. Inductive charging pads by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2

    I think these are a great idea and I would not be surprised if Apple start to support them in the future. A phone could be built with no open connections at all. Just wireless data and inductive charging. But over longer distances the laws of physics catch up with up. Obviously the shorter the wavelength the less doffraction you get over a given distance so if you direct power with a laser and convert it into electricity with a photovoltaic cell then you could easily get more efficiency over a few metres than with induction. Maybe in the future it will be considered normal to transmit power that way.

    1. Re:Inductive charging pads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      inductive charging coils might become a standard feature, I hope. I know my hp touchpad does it, and so does the new nexus 4. The mats themselves aren't cheap, which could be why the tech is so slow to be adopted.

    2. Re:Inductive charging pads by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      It's slow to be adapted because nobody is making their devices compatible with anyone elses solutions. Your Nexus 4 won't charge from a Samsung wireless charging pad, for example.

      The Duracell Powermat make adapters for various devices, but they understandably add bulk. If there could be some wireless charging standard similar to the UK "All mobile phones charge via MicroUSB" system, we'd all be a lot better off.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    3. Re:Inductive charging pads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even in the UK, iPhones use Apple's proprietary socket.

  12. You can transmit power wirelessly over distances. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...but, the further you go the more it resembles eating your lunch sitting on power lines.

    At the one end, there is no measurable danger in charging handset on a pad charger. But do you really want to spend all your television watching hours in a room where 200 watts of power is being beamed to your TV (and 19x being radiated) from the wall to save you the bother of the unsightly cord?

    If you have magnetic wave energy, you have electric wave energy, which means you have RF. You can shape the way you transmit RF energy, but there are no perfectly absorbtive receivers, and splatter is a function of distance. So at contact distance (phone on the pad) it's pretty fine.

    The claim was "most"of the power gets there. Let's assume they are not full of crap. So 49% of the power is splatterd around. So your 1800 watt cordless hairdryer splashes 1730 watts around the bathroom? And people worry about .1 watt GSM transmitters in their phones?

    I guess I need you to trust an A/C on this point, the extra four orders of magnitude makes a difference.

  13. Re:Tesla by CanHasDIY · · Score: 0

    Tesla didn't have to worry about FCC regulation on how much RF power he could transmit on his coils back then in the dark ages before he invented wireless communication,

    CTFY

    [Clarified That For You]

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  14. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We can do the exact same thing now if you want to waste power. Actually, there's an article about that, right above. Tesla didn't discover some kind of black magic no one knows about. The physics he used are well understood today.

  15. Re:Tesla by mike.mondy · · Score: 2

    You also have to consider the efficiency. Running a 1GW power plant just to light a 100W light bulb a few kilometers away does not seem a good idea.

    Yes, it is possible to transfer power without wires - radio has been doing it for a long time (a simple crystal radio set does not need any power other than what it gets from the antenna, but you'd better have some sensitive headphones, a big antenna and a station that is relatively close). The problem is transferring a lot of power efficiently and without huge antennas.

    Their claims are apparently that they can achieve better efficiency than had been thought possible.

    Anyone who wants us to believe differently should have independently verified proof. If you suspect parlor tricks, it's helpful to have a magician involved in addition to the scientist or engineer. "Extraordinary claims" and all that...

    Or maybe a bad summary? Almost 50% loss over a relatively short distance might match the claims of "majority of the power".

  16. No it isn't by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The problem is inefficiency. Power drops with the square of distance. That means you need a bigass transmission source to get a small amount of power any distance away, hence why things like FM stations have 5 digit wattage transmitters.

    Yes we have been able to transmit power wirelessly for a long time, no it is NOT practical or efficient. If you are enthralled with Tesla, spend some time reading some actual books on him, not just the silly piece by the Oatmeal. He was a fascinating man and worth your time to learn about, but you need to learn about him if you want to go spouting off.

    He didn't invent some magic transmission technology we can't replicate, he invented an inefficient transmission technology that we can replicate, but don't, because he was not able to solve the efficiency problems (and it may not be physically possible to).

    1. Re:No it isn't by StripedCow · · Score: 2, Informative

      Power drops with the square of distance.

      Not if you have a directed beam of energy.

      The beam could be directed based on some set-up protocol between the energy-source and the energy-consumer.
      And you can easily direct beams by using some antenna array.

      Such direction-sensitivity could also be used to (partly) solve the billing problem.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antenna_array_(electromagnetic)

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
    2. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about we refuse to accept the obvious ``this will never work'' and assume that ``some clever engineering will make it work''? Wireless power transmission is not impossible... heck, lightnining is pretty damn destructive, and manages to push a ton current through the air (a pretty damn good resistor under normal circumstances)---and somehow manages to avoid that whole square-of-distance thing (once arc is established).

    3. Re:No it isn't by bug1 · · Score: 1

      Power drops with the square of distance.

      Not if you have a directed beam of energy.

      An Antenna array is lots of antenna, and in each one "Power drops withe the squar of distance".

    4. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Even directed beams drop off with distance squared once you get outside the near field. A directed beam is a lot more efficient than an omnidirectional beam, but for any given directional beam, power will drop off with distance squared, and narrowing the beam will require larger antennas setups.

    5. Re:No it isn't by tuck182 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't have any interest in carrying a phone in my pocket that's recharged via lightning bolt from the wall.

    6. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Power drops with the square of distance.

      Not if you have a directed beam of energy.

      An Antenna array is lots of antenna, and in each one "Power drops withe the squar of distance".

      You have to take the effect of interference into account. That's what the concept is based on.

    7. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The problem is inefficiency. Power drops with the square of distance.

      That is a big simplification. The reason power drops with the square is because the surface area of a sphere increases with the square of the radius.
      This is also true for segments so a reasonably directional power transmission also have this problem but you get a nice multiplier since you don't drop power in all directions.
      If you make it unreasonably directional you can ignore the square of distance problem.

      In the end it will always be a compromise of how well you can guide the energy to how far you want to transmit it and how large receiver you are willing to have.

    8. Re:No it isn't by geekoid · · Score: 0

      It'd not a billing problem. Billing is easy, your just auto subscribed if you are in their area. It's wold be a flat rate adjust at the end of the year. Billing is trivial.
      As such, it isn't a billing problem. Electric companies would LOVE not to spend money one cables, poles and linemen.

      Another conspiracy killed by common cents.
      heh.

      And you "solution" only underlines your ignorance.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    9. Re:No it isn't by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      "Sufficiently clever engineering is indistinguishable from magic, and there's fuck all in the cupboard."

      L. Ron Hubbard's mother.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    10. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And also how deadly the line between the transmitter and the receiver.

    11. Re:No it isn't by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Sufficiently clever engineering is indistinguishable from magic, and there's fuck all in the cupboard.

      Now I remember one of the reasons L. Ron creeped me out so much: nobody ever cussed in one of his novels (people who never cuss - this includes authors - often give me the heeby-jeebies).

    12. Re:No it isn't by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      The problem is inefficiency. Power drops with the square of distance.

      That's when the transmitter is essentially a point source radiating in a sphere. I have a tiny bit of experience with very high powered radars that use beam-forming to narrowly direct their transmission. In the past that sort of beam-forming required lots of bulky equipment, but apparently that's changed in the last decade or so. I wouldn't be surprised if something similar could be used to direct wireless power with much better efficiencies.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    13. Re:No it isn't by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      tesla was the genuine article: a mad genius

      so there's the genius

      but there's also the crazy part to

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    14. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ever heard of lasers? how about a radio wavelength laser?

    15. Re:No it isn't by hoboroadie · · Score: 2

      I thought the resonating magnetic field solved the efficiency problem for Tesla.
      These guys aren't charging the planet at the right frequency.

      --
      They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
    16. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      ever heard of lasers?

      Or optical masers, as they used to be called!

      how about a radio wavelength laser?

      So, regular masers, then?

      Okay, cool.

      Now go read about diffraction, and see if you can realize that lasers, masers, etc. aren't magic, and that every finite beam loses power like 1/r^2 in the far field.

    17. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And yet, in the far field, that beam still gets wider in both directions as it goes, giving you R^2 fall off.

      Physics doesn't say you can't transmit X power at Y efficiency over Z distance -- it just says the required antenna size scales with Z and increases with increasing Y. IOW, TANSTAAFL.

    18. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Beam forming is just the correct use of interference patterns, and it is very useful for *information* transmission, and an useless piece of crap for *power* transmission: you still leak power like a sieve. The math is not even complex, in fact it is downright simple.

      The only way to increase efficiency is to redirect the wavefront and concentrate it where you need it instead of letting all that power go somewhere else it is not useful. This means you need to *reflect* it, maybe *guide* it (using waveguides). This is _not_ called "beamforming".

      These companies are just promoting a major waste of power for absolutely no good reason.

    19. Re:No it isn't by Evil+Pete · · Score: 2

      "radio wavelength laser" ... you mean a MASER, which is even older than the laser. Won't work. Although coherent radiation does not obey the inverse square law it does suffer divergence from diffraction effects (unavoidable) which is inversely proportional to distance. Also masers and lasers aren't very efficient so I don't think this is a solution either. Face it, Tesla was a great guy but on this he was plain wrong.

      --
      Bitter and proud of it.
    20. Re:No it isn't by shiftless · · Score: 1

      Also, I'm really high, so I totally thought you were talking about Robert Heinlein instead of the person you were actually talking about, L. Ron Hubbard.

      I agree. L Ron Hubbard is a really creepy guy.

      Carry on.

      *slowly tiptoes away*

    21. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Beam forming is just the correct use of interference patterns, and it is very useful for *information* transmission, and an useless piece of crap for *power* transmission: you still leak power like a sieve. The math is not even complex, in fact it is downright simple.

      Isn't effective data rate directly correlated with power levels?

    22. Re:No it isn't by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      The problem is inefficiency. Power drops with the square of distance. That means you need a bigass transmission source to get a small amount of power any distance away, hence why things like FM stations have 5 digit wattage transmitters.

      Yes we have been able to transmit power wirelessly for a long time, no it is NOT practical or efficient. If you are enthralled with Tesla, spend some time reading some actual books on him, not just the silly piece by the Oatmeal. He was a fascinating man and worth your time to learn about, but you need to learn about him if you want to go spouting off.

      He didn't invent some magic transmission technology we can't replicate, he invented an inefficient transmission technology that we can replicate, but don't, because he was not able to solve the efficiency problems (and it may not be physically possible to).

      Radio stations use that kind of power because they want to broadcast a signal hundreds of miles in a very noisy RF environment. True, it's inefficient but you could definitely transmit power a few feet and use the power to run some device. Charging most cell phones for example only requires about 500ma at 5vdc. Even at 10% efficiency it's doable; just inefficient.

      Tv's and electric cars, though.. that sounds like a huge stretch. I wonder if the FCC has properly studied this stuff - at the transmission levels you'd need for a car I would have to guess it would be hazardous living things.

    23. Re:No it isn't by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 2

      Even directed beams drop off with distance squared once you get outside the near field. A directed beam is a lot more efficient than an omnidirectional beam, but for any given directional beam, power will drop off with distance squared, and narrowing the beam will require larger antennas setups.

      Yes, that can be done. But the collectors are very large if you want to catch most of the power. And they also suffer large efficiency losses compared to a wire and low frequency.

    24. Re:No it isn't by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 1

      Not needed. What you need is a high-gain antenna, and dishes work better than anything else for that.

    25. Re:No it isn't by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 1

      How about we refuse to accept the obvious ``this will never work'' and assume that ``some clever engineering will make it work''? Wireless power transmission is not impossible... heck, lightnining is pretty damn destructive, and manages to push a ton current through the air (a pretty damn good resistor under normal circumstances)---and somehow manages to avoid that whole square-of-distance thing (once arc is established).

      But efficient wireless transmission with small receiving antennas is impossible. It all comes down to geometry.

    26. Re:No it isn't by Randle_Revar · · Score: 1

      Like Newton and Alchemy.

    27. Re:No it isn't by technosaurus · · Score: 1

      The problem is that transmission is omnidirectional. Change that to a tightly coupled E-M field pulse and efficiency goes way up. Think of it as the difference between a light bulb and a laser. Every 10 years or so, a "new" Tesla tech is re-discovered. Next will be parallel disk turbines or tapping into earth's resonances. Too bad he was so far ahead of his time, now we may never see half of his genius because there is no money in it. Same reason we use lithium batteries instead of Edison batteries (you can't expect to talk about Tesla without at least a mention of his arch rival)

    28. Re:No it isn't by benjamindees · · Score: 1

      Absolute power. Not percentage of transmitted power.

      --
      "I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
    29. Re:No it isn't by redmid17 · · Score: 1

      Don't be selfish man. Puff, puff, and pass.

    30. Re:No it isn't by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 1

      Lightning is incredibly inefficient. Yes it pushes a ton of current...but 90% or so of the power is lost turning the air into plasma. The fact it's still dangerous at ground level is just a reflection of the truly staggering amount of power their is to start with.

    31. Re:No it isn't by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 2

      An under-expressed notion by the people talking about MASERs. A 100W focussed beam of microwaves might charge your laptop, but it's also going to happily start microwaving any incidental internal organs in it's path.

    32. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too late, they're already on their way!
      I for one, welcome our new Zeusaphone Ringtone Overlords!

    33. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Surely Thor would also fit the meme ?

    34. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but what if you could induce lightning in a certain location, and then convert it into energy ?
      All we need is something that can absorb the energy , and give it back at a slower rate later.

      Much more interesting than wireless electricity.

    35. Re:No it isn't by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 2

      Well that mainly depends on frequency. For these applications I'd advise NOT to use 2.4 GHz (the microwave oven frequency) for various reasons (not only does water and fat get heated, but also bluetooth and wifi a-g recievers have bad reactions). There are other frequencies that do fine. Preferably a lot higher (since this helps in the range). The fact that it doesn't need to transmit data (only power) means the transmitter doesn't have to be transistor based: magnetron or klystron based is easier. 40 GHz seems possible.
      These frequencies do not heat the human body, although I do not know if there is enough free bandwith available.

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
    36. Re:No it isn't by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 1

      Correct me if I am wrong, but when combined with the legal transmit limits this becomes a percentage of transmitted power.

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
    37. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll just leave this here because you seem to need it:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antenna_gain

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferometry

    38. Re:No it isn't by mabhatter654 · · Score: 1

      He did solve those efficiency problems... Something called Alternating Current. It's gonna be big!

      Of course without Tesla's work on wireless power, we wouldn't have "radio" (and various technologies) either. Marconi's famous radio patent used more than 20 Tesla patents...

    39. Re:No it isn't by craigminah · · Score: 1

      ...and the tightly focused beam of a (frickin') laser would make pointing it difficult. Atmospheric absorption, refraction, diffraction, etc. all make this more and more complicated. Wires, batteries, nuclear, and solar are much easier I think.

    40. Re:No it isn't by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 3

      Yes, but what if you could induce lightning in a certain location, and then convert it into energy ?
      All we need is something that can absorb the energy , and give it back at a slower rate later.

      Much more interesting than wireless electricity.

      The trick is to collect it before it turns into lightning. Stop it doing all that work on the atmosphere.

      Superconducting helium balloons connected to clouds which discharge the current build up as it occurs gives you more manageable levels of current. The average potential difference between stratosphere and the ground is something like 300,000 V at all times, so even in clear air conditions you'd get some power.

      At this point though, the volcano powerplant makes more sense.

    41. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Lasers drop off with inverse distance squared too once you get past the Rayleigh length which determined by how narrow the beam originally was and the wavelength. Having a beam much wider than the wavelength makes this length very far, which for visual light is easy, but for radio waves, once you get past a few wavelengths, you are going to see that drop off.

    42. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The grandparent is essentially correct though, each antenna's effect does drop off with distance squared. Once you get some distance away from an array of antennas, not much more than the wavelength or array size, you're going to get inverse square drop off. You can have a directional beam, but it is still going to have the same drop off (expanding in a cone instead of a sphere).

    43. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      These frequencies do not heat the human body,

      Actually, 40 GHz is about the peak of absorption for water at 20 C... and at 30-40 C water more effectively absorbs 40 GHz than it does 2.4 GHz. The 2.4 and 0.9 GHz used by residential and industrial microwave ovens was not chosen because it was the peak of absorption, but because of being in blocks allocated in the spectrum for industrial use and because of what was cheapest to make for a given size.

    44. Re:No it isn't by necro81 · · Score: 1

      Of course without Tesla's work on wireless power, we wouldn't have "radio" (and various technologies) either. Marconi's famous radio patent used more than 20 Tesla patents...

      Yes, because in the 100+ years since, no one, I mean no one could ever have invented the stuff that Tesla did. There's no way that we would have radio, even today, without that man.

    45. Re:No it isn't by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      If you are enthralled with Tesla, spend some time reading some actual books on him, not just the silly piece by the Oatmeal. He was a fascinating man and worth your time to learn about, but you need to learn about him if you want to go spouting off.

      He didn't invent some magic transmission technology we can't replicate, he invented an inefficient transmission technology that we can replicate, but don't, because he was not able to solve the efficiency problems (and it may not be physically possible to).

      Well, had you read some actual books on the topic, instead of spending your time coming up with snarky responses to satisfy your narcissistic need to baselessly denigrate others, you would know that Tesla had a solution indeed - many towers, spread strategically about the globe, creating a worldwide network of wireless power stations.

      Had his brilliance been recognized at the time, we wouldn't be playing catch-up on century old technology. Let that be a lesson to the world - today's mad scientist may just turn out to be tomorrow's under-appreciated genius.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    46. Re:No it isn't by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > The problem is inefficiency. Power drops with the square of distance.

      Wrong!

      That's how radio works.

      Actually the resonant schemes DON'T use radio, they use inductance; which is just magnetic fields; and they work at much lower frequencies.

      By contrast, radio is a particular mixture of magnetic and electric fields that propagate to infinity, and you tend to lose them. That was the genius of Marconi, to get the mix right.

      But magnetic fields on their own don't propagate, that's partly why magnets don't go flat. The energy hangs around the transmitter and can be absorbed by a suitable receiver.

      --

      -WolfWithoutAClause

      "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
    47. Re:No it isn't by default+luser · · Score: 1

      Charging most cell phones for example only requires about 500ma at 5vdc. Even at 10% efficiency it's doable; just inefficient.

      Can't you see how crazy you sound? Smartphones are a new constant drain on electricity, and if you dropped the efficiency of the charging transmission line to just 10%, you'd potentially cost the grid GIGAWATTS of capacity.

      Here are my thoughts:

      Current worldwide sales of Smartphones were 154 million units in 2012. If they continue to grow like last year, in 2013 they will move 220 million units. Let's ignore the already existing installed base of phones, and just assume those are all the Smartphones on earth (374 million).

      If you drop efficiency of the charging transfer medium (wire = approx 100%) to 10%, you're wasting 22.5W to provide each Smartphone with 2.5W of usable power. If you assume perhaps 20% (low-ball estimate, for sure) are plugged-in at any time, this gives you:

      374 million phones * (0.2) *(22.5W) = 1683 Megawatts of power, when the wired chargers only used 187 Megawatts. That's 1.5 Gigawatts of added capacity just so people can be lazy!

      --

      Man is the animal that laughs.
      And occasionally whores for Karma.

    48. Re:No it isn't by zzyzyx · · Score: 1

      You're correct that power drops with the square of distance, however it does not mean efficiency follows the same relation. It can be improved through resonance. This phenomenon allows the power of the magnetic field to be much higher than the electrical power put in the antenna. Think of somebody pushing a child on a swing. This works because an induction antenna does not simply send energy into space, but it sets up a magnetic field that can be recaptured and reused in the next cycle, adding up the energy. If the system is well built a large percentage of the unused energy can be recycled this way. Transmitters such as the ones used in RFiD aim for quality factors (the ratio of energy input vs energy loss per cycle) of up to 1000. That allows for energy transfer at relatively large distances.

    49. Re:No it isn't by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      LOL! Electricity exists almost exclusively so people can be lazy. For example, you're wasting electricity posting on slashdot when you could be writing a letter or doing something else. Just because your idea of what it's okay to use electricity on is different than someone else's doesn't make you right. Unreasonable attitudes like yours are a problem in today's society. You don't want to do it, and that's fine. It doesn't mean that I don't want to do it or won't do it. If I charge a phone that way every day for a month, it would represent a 0.02% increase in my monthly power consumption. There are far bigger things to worry about in pretty much any household that has electric service. Maybe you should concentrate your efforts in eliminating cell phone (especially smartphone usage) entirely since they use far more power than conventional wired telephones.

    50. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tesla DID NOT advocate the type of technology those 2 companies are pushing. look at:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower

    51. Re:No it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tesla advocates something completely different than the tech which the two companies are pushing. to quote the man, "I am not producing radiation in my system; I am suppressing electromagnetic waves. But, on the other hand, my apparatus [the type pushed by the 2 companies] can be used effectively with electromagnetic waves. The apparatus has nothing to do with this new method except that it is the only means to practice it. So that in my system, you should free yourself of the idea that there is radiation, that energy is radiated. IT IS NOT RADIATED; IT IS CONSERVED

  17. Re:Tesla by mZHg · · Score: 1

    This has already been done, on few hundreds meters using big directional antenna in area where you can install wires. I just cant remember where it was.. A tv documentary I've seen 10 years ago at least. Somewhere in south America, to power some scientists observatories or alike.

  18. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Source? Don't believe it.

  19. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes !
    A technology lost and locked down.
    Why was his info "Illegally Seized " a at the time of his death and is still not known today ? Tesla was experimenting with Plasma, the arc from which has a tiny resistance which can carry huge Currents short distances , This however ,Tesla accomplished over huge distances .
    Today this is done inside Gas filled discharge tubes like Xenon and Neon lamps , except Tesla figured out how to ionize the air (Nitrogen/oxygen) into a plasma over huge distances in a controlled manner like Lightning on demand.

  20. Re:Tesla by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

    Yeah and? You realize that most of the power was lost before being received over that long distance, right? Tesla didn't break the laws of physics despite what his modern-day, rabid fans would have you believe.

  21. Re:Tesla by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

    How was it lost? We know exactly the physics behind his transmitter. There was nothing magic about it.

  22. What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 1, Troll

    They've seen people who live under high voltage power lines seem to have a higher rate of cancer

    So I would think it would be possibly dangerous to come close to fields where energy is passing through your body. The more energy involved the worse off I'd think people would be. I don't tend to worry much about low energy fields like cell phones or wifi. Yet if a job powered all the computers with remote energy so I'm exposed all day long, I'd have to decline that job. No sense risking cancer for any amount of money.

    1. Re:What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by geekoid · · Score: 0

      " The more energy involved the worse off I'd think "
      sigh. Do you lack all critical thinking capability? DO you often speculate about things you are ignorant about? Just say in thing that pops into your head?
      Do you even know what energy is?
      Sheesh.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    2. Re:What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by GoodNewsJimDotCom · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Watts = Volts x Amps. Watts is energy per unit time... My thinking is that higher Watts(higher energy) is worse for you than low energy transfer like radio/Cell/Wifi.

      My reasoning is that people who live near high power lines develop cancer at a higher rate than the general populace, while people using regular electronics and in home wiring systems don't get impacted as bad.

    3. Re:What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by metaconcept · · Score: 5, Informative
      From the very PDF you link to, Question 1, right at the beginning:

      • the more recent epidemiological studies show little evidence that either power lines or "electrical occupations" are associated with an increase in cancer (see Q19);
      • laboratory studies have shown little evidence of a link between power-frequency fields and cancer (see Q16);
      • an extensive series of studies have shown that life-time exposure of animals to power-frequency magnetic fields does not cause cancer (see Q16B);
      • a connection between power line fields and cancer is physically implausible (see Q18).

      ... Overall, most scientists consider that the evidence that power line fields cause or contribute to cancer is weak to nonexistent.

      (Emphasis mine.)

    4. Re:What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by MangoCats · · Score: 1

      Or, maybe they're happier?

    5. Re:What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That reasoning would be great if it didn't rely on data that doesn't exist. You might as well say that your reasoning is that people who masturbate go blind at a higher rate than the general populace. I mean, that's not true either, but it sounds good right? No?

    6. Re:What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "This electricity pole is known to the state of California to be carcinogenic"

    7. Re:What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most scientists...

      Those motherfuckers be lyin' and gettin' me pissed.

    8. Re:What about the dangers? Does it cause cancer? by jcgam69 · · Score: 1

      people who live near high power lines develop cancer at a higher rate than the general populace

      [citation needed]

  23. Propagation, Dissipation, and Inductance by some+old+guy · · Score: 2

    I'm as big a Tesla fan as anyone, but I'm also a practical electrical engineer.

    Someone above already raised the end-point billing issue the utilco's will have, so we needn't bother with the bean-counter side of things. MBA's, rest easy. Your obscene profits are safe.

    However, going from a theoretical ability to blast x amount of joules across an air gap to capturing a useful fraction of x without frying the adjacent wildlife and neighbors is quite another thing. As TFA points out, they seem impressed with a 10% capture rate, which to an engineer means a 90% loss of efficiency.

    There is also this unpleasant fact of biophysics: sufficiently strong electro-magnetic fields, regardless of frequency, are inevitably fatal. The required grounding, shielding, etc. would be so outrageously expensive that the cost of copper wires pales.

    Some science fiction does eventually become science fact. However, Thermodynamics, biochemistry, and basic engineering discipline relegate most of it to forever remaining fiction. Sorry, no Nobel Prizes here.

    --
    Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
    1. Re:Propagation, Dissipation, and Inductance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everyone is going right to power over miles. Think smaller. The problem with electric cars is battery tech. Why not embed these in the roads and put a capture plate (or whatever it's called) on the bottom of the car? You'd have a battery for when the connection wasn't good or what have you, but you wouldn't need a ton of batteries. The distance wouldn't be much.

      The cost counting is an issue. However, why not use a device like Geico uses? It would just read the amount of power you use and uploads it via cell signals and keeps count. If you tamper with it or damage it the result is the same as if you damaged your power meter on your house. Basically, it's a huge cost to you regardless of what you used.

    2. Re:Propagation, Dissipation, and Inductance by geekoid · · Score: 1

      There is no billing issue. Billing would be easy.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  24. Re:Tesla by mZHg · · Score: 2

    "Wireless high power transmission using microwaves is well proven. Experiments in the tens of kilowatts have been performed at Goldstone in California in 1975 and more recently (1997) at Grand Bassin on Reunion Island. These methods achieve distances on the order of a kilometer."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer#Microwave_method

  25. RFID powers at 30 +ft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The error in the critics is that they are talking about magnetic/induction.
    RF information (and thus power) can travel over E fields as well.

    As for focusing the beam - that is called antenna gain. Higher gain antennas have greater focus.

    Higher frequency is easier to focus than lower frequency.

    In the case of RFID, at 900Mhz, 1 Watt of power, and 6db gain antenna, you can power an RFID tag at 90ft! - a larger 6x6" tag - with a metal back plain.
    Yes there is loss - lots of it in fact - but it can work. The more common, 10cent tags are on the order of 20ft (same chip - just efficiency of the receiving antenna).

    There are practical limits on how much gain a planer antenna can have.

    1. Re:RFID powers at 30 +ft by Pentium100 · · Score: 1

      Of course it can work. Crystal radio set can receive broadcasts without any source of power (other than the radio waves) from transmitters many kilometers ways. However, it is extremely inefficient - a 500kW transmission power may only result in a couple of mW to the headphones.

      Same with wireless power transmission, except here we care a lot about the efficiency. The RFID chip probably nees miliwatts to operate (and the transmitter is 1W), so how about charging a laptop which needs 100W to operate - how much power will the transmitter have to use just so the user does not have to plug the power cord in?

  26. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was Lost.
    We don't know it.
      The textbook physics we learn in school may not be what Tesla accomplished.

  27. Re:Tesla by Nidi62 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why was his info "Illegally Seized " a at the time of his death and is still not known today ?

    I'm not saying it was aliens....but it was aliens.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  28. Re:Tesla by geekoid · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Tesla figured out how to broadcast power miles away, wirelessly, using technology available in the late 1800s. "
    STOP IT. this is a false statement. Tesla went bat shit crazy, and made shit up.
    Yes he was a genius and found out how to do some great stuff. Lets celebrate that and not the Bullshit myth.

    I'll be impressed when you idiot can start to separate fact from fiction.
    And before you replay, if such a device existed, billing would be trivial. IT's like people really ignorant of electrical engineering and Billing practices came together to fall under a conspiracy theory instead of ACTUAL THINKING about it.

    There are many ways to bill, but I will sum up with an example:
    I pay for sewer, yet there is no Sewer meter on my sewer line.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  29. Go back and read that web site again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >Menno Treffers, chairman of the Wireless Power Consortium, says you can broadcast wireless power over six feet, but the charge received will be less than 10% of the source.

    He is correct, although you don’t provide any details of his exact statement. If you built a complete sphere around the transmitter you could theoretically get far more than 10% of the source, but he is probably assuming a much smaller antenna 10 feet from the transmitter. Most of the power from the transmitter is not going anywhere near the antenna and therefor can’t be transmitted even if the antenna is 100% efficient.

    >WiTricity and 3DVOX, however, are fighting those claims with demonstrations showing their products are capable of resonating the majority of source power.

    I don’t think you read the page you linked to very carefully. Where does 3DVOX say anything about “resonating the majority of a source power?” They are just stating they can power some household electronics and make no claims whatever about the efficiency of their system. The Witricity doesn’t make any claims about efficiency either. If you want to buy their “Prodigy” system for a thousand bucks and light up some low-power LEDs a few feet from a transmitter, you go right ahead. Even there promotional page just says you can send power through a “desk top, glass window, (or) a brick wall.” That’s quite easy. Sending it though 10+ feet of space, that’s the hard thing.

    In my book, lighting up a few LEDs is exactly the kind of thing I consider a nice "parlor trick."

  30. Re:Tesla by geekoid · · Score: 2

    he didn't invent wireless communication.
    look up photophone (1880)
    or
    David E. Hughes 1889
    or
      Heinrich Hertz
    or
    Chandra Bose

    One popular comic ass talks about Tesla, makes factual wrong statements about Tesla, and every self proclaimed 'nerd' starts repeating it like it's actual fact.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  31. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this really true? If so why has no-one else worked this in a whole century?

    Also would you want you lights to be on permanently and presumably all your delicate consumer electronics constantly being wrecked from all the induced current?

  32. Sounds like the typical scam gobble-de-gook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "...capable of resonating the majority of source power."

    Where are the "hyperreality" and "quantum continuity" marketing scam words so popular on other idiotic claims?

    Are there no "ethereal vibrations" or "ionized ions" or "magic ponies" in the announcement?

    I guess it's time I throw away my EE texts...and, for that matter, Physics texts, eh?

  33. hah, my bad for forgetting by geekoid · · Score: 0

    Marconi and Braun, Nobel prize winners. Tesla was like 10 when they did this.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:hah, my bad for forgetting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Marconi and Braun, Nobel prize winners. Tesla was like 10 when they did this.

      Hey Dumbass. Marconi worked for Tesla as a assistant. Tesla designed the radio first, but didnt really care about it. Marconi improved the design and patented it as well. Teslas patent (which was filed first) was upheld by the US Supreme court. And answer me this you moron how was Tesla 10 when Marconi got the Nobel prize when Tesla was born in 1856 and Marconi born in 1874?

    2. Re:hah, my bad for forgetting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tesla was 18 when Marconi was born. You do know you are on the Internet, right? It knows most facts and is willing to tell them to you if you ask.

    3. Re:hah, my bad for forgetting by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Marconi and Braun, Nobel prize winners. Tesla was like 10 when they did this.

      Is tree bark made of chocolate, in this fantasy world you inhabit?

      Just curious...

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  34. not buying even if true by hurfy · · Score: 2

    Looked at one of the demo videos. There is a 4000watt transmitter (in middle of floor, nevermind the radiated power someone is gonna trip on it!) a few feet away from most of the stuff and i don't see 2000w worth of stuff.

    Don't know how it works, don't care so much to look. I don't plan on adding a 4000watt transmitter to each room, seems like a half dozen power cords would be a bit cheaper. Not that i have any interest or hope for anything called 3D power...sigh.

    But...Does the green carpet in the one vid play into it? The TV didn't come on til he touched the floor.
    Wonder how good the wireless internet is 18 inches from that transmitter where he set the laptop down.....

    What if i add this 4000 watt transmitter to my apartment, as does my neighbor, etc. Before we finish the complex we will enough power running to add a couple TV channels much less the recievers :O

    1. Re:not buying even if true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, companies should stop doing R&D until they can make a product that consumers will want to buy.

  35. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Assuming you could ionize air in any shape on demand, at no cost for control circuitry or inefficiency for getting that shape, consider making just a 1 meter long, 1 mm square section of plasma. You would need a joule of energy just to strip the electrons off about 1% of the nitrogen to get the ionization typically seen in an arc (more would lower the resistance), without any power going into heating or radiated light (which is actually a large percentage of the power used in an arc). If we are very generous and give a recombination time of about a millisecond for such a thin strip of plasma in air, you would get a need of about 500 W just to keep it ionized. This is going to cut into your efficiency and gets worse with longer distances. You could try to save some power and go with short bursts instead of a constant DC discharge, still having to pay for the ionization every time (plus heating and radiative loses in the real world). If you wanted to limit your loses to about 10%, you would need to send ten times as much as the ionization energy every burst, and be done before it recombines much... using the above numbers, you would need to transmit in bursts of at least 10 J/ms -> 10 kW. That is going to add a few more layers of complexity and potential loses to your setup, even ignoring a bunch of other sources of inefficiencies already stated above, and others.

  36. lasers by circletimessquare · · Score: 0

    why can't they transmit it with lasers

    (mental image of toddler looking into the power transmitter)

    never mind

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:lasers by Prof.Phreak · · Score: 0

      Hmm... how about a laser beam of much longer wavelength---like radio, or even much lower (e.g. say 60Hz---but just as directional as a laser)?

      --

      "If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy

    2. Re:lasers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about you don't talk like an illiterate?

      A laser might have an aperture on the order of 1mm and a wavelength of 1um.

      60Hz has a wavelength of 5000km. So yeah, a laser about 4x the diameter of the sun would get the same divergence angle.

    3. Re:lasers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a laser about 4x the diameter of the sun

      And that's impractical how?

  37. Confusing magnetic resonance and radiated RF power by kidaxess · · Score: 2

    There seems to be some confusion on this thread between magnetic resonance, which is the type of power transfer used by WiTricity and others, and radiative RF which is the radio technology we are used to. For example, received power does not fall off with the square of distance in the case of magnetic resonant systems. There are definitely a ton of challenges to this technology, but it is good to keep in mind that they are NOT talking about transmitting a high power RF signal and having it received at range. Here is a link to a paper that describes both types of systems so you can understand the implementation and trade-offs. The author's have achieved 80% efficiency over a few meters using magnetic resonance. Experimental Results with two Wireless Power Transfer Systems http://sensor.cs.washington.edu/pubs/WISP-WARP.pdf Video and other good info: http://www.alansonsample.com/research/wrel.html

  38. Re:Confusing magnetic resonance and radiated RF po by kidaxess · · Score: 2

    The referenced paper actually describes two systems based on RF power transfer. Here is one on magnetic resonance: http://www.alansonsample.com/publications/docs/2010%20-%20TIE%20-%20Magnetically%20Coupled%20Resonators%20for%20Wireless%20Power%20Transfer.pdf

  39. some basic scienc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you want to avoid 1/r^2 effects you need a beam. You won't get that with 60 cycles/sec power; wavelength is too long and a transmitting array will be too unwieldy. Microwaves can be beam-formed. However, if your beam is carrying, say, 1KW of power in a narrow beam, the power density is going to become large. You like to run your microwave oven with the door open? No? Right: the power density could become dangerous. You'd need some way to power your computer, lights, engines, whatnot, with no coupling of that power to flesh. That's tough: we conduct electricity pretty well at most any frequency. Then too these narrow beams need to be aimed at whatever is to be charged. You don't just carry your devices into the house and they magically get power.

    If you can do the "get power anywhere" trick, they're not using a directional beam. They won't survive distance power loss either, and you would want to be careful about spending time in the area. If they can do distance, the energy must be concentrated into a beam or narrow area. (It is easier to achieve this with the technical marvels called "wires".) If the beams are sent through free space, caution is advised in crossing such beams. Remember the microwave open-door example again...those devices work by dumping lots of EM energy into a region of space. A power beam would be such a region.

    It could get hot to be in such. Might ignite walls too.

  40. Coming soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wireless power extension cords.

  41. Re:Tesla by Desler · · Score: 1

    Yeah because he used some different form of physics not available in our time, right?

  42. Re:Tesla by Desler · · Score: 1

    But...but...the Oatmeal guy said it so it must be true!!!

  43. Ask 'em to put another load nearby by HizookRobotics · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are a lot of hard engineering problems to overcome, even if the system was efficient... For example, a second resonant load nearby severely de-tunes the system, antenna mounting considerations are of supreme importance (good luck putting one on a laptop full of metal), and antenna alignment is absolutely crucial! The whole WiTricity concept might be sound in theory, but the engineering challenges are monumental.

    1. Re:Ask 'em to put another load nearby by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

      Now THAT is actually interesting. Finally, some discussion of the practical aspects of resonant systems. I'd never heard anybody mention system detuning if there's more than one load.

      I had heard about the alignment problem before, but when you're talking about most gadgets, they have an obvious antenna orientation because they generally have one particularly slim dimension and two broader ones. I'd assume you'd build the plane of the antenna to correspond to the broader dimensions, since it apparently needs to be fairly large, as antennas go, and the transmitter should go on the floor. (Or IN the floor, since apparently the field has no difficulty going through non-metal things.) With the transmitter on or in the floor, aligned horizontally, many gadgets would end up in the right orientation most of the time they're in use and when they're resting not in use. Laptops maybe more so than phones or tablets, but even phones and tablets are used fairly close to horizontal by a lot of people. (At least, that's what I've observed.) So alignment can be dealt with.

      Having the whole thing come apart with more than one load would be a serious problem though. Gadget people never have only one gadget.

    2. Re:Ask 'em to put another load nearby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      funny, everytime I sit with my laptop in the charging area my balls get warm

  44. Chapter 4 of the ARRL Handbook by calidoscope · · Score: 1

    Chapter 4 of the ARRL Handbook has a section on coupled resonant circuits. The critical coupling coefficient is equal to the inverse of the geometric mean of the loaded Q's of the two resonant circuits. With the coupling coefficient dropping with the 6th power of the spacing, once the spacing significantly exceeds the radius, the required Q's really quickly become unrealizable.

    --
    A Shadeless room is a brighter room.
    1. Re:Chapter 4 of the ARRL Handbook by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      What this says to me is that as long as the antennae are large you can have a decent distance. Which means that it should be great for charging cars but shit for charging phones.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  45. MR imaging, SAR limits and patient burns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone interested in wireless power transfer should look into Magnetic Resonance imaging systems. They are doing excatly the same thing ie transferring large amounts of rf energy through air into the patients undergoing examinations. One of the most difficult problems is keeping the patients cool during the imaging. The rf fields cause local induced rf currents in patients and is some cases these result in burns. The fields are generated by antennas similar to the ones they are using for wireless power transfer.

    It requires a lot of work to supress the induced rf currents even in the highly controlled environment of a MR imaging system. No external conducting wires are allowed anywhere near the transmitting coils. This includes conducting surgical equipment etc. There is a lot of education for the nurses before they know what can and what cannot be done inside the volume exposed to rf fields. Anyone claiming that the same problems would not appear in home or office environments is lying or does not know what he is talking about. I have seen sparks flying and plastic insulaton of the cable melting when a cable without rf supression devices was used...

    I have designed rf coils in MR systems for > 10 years. If there was an easy way of handling these problems I'd heard about it by now. Ask them about the SAR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_absorption_rate for humans close to the wireless transmission coils. Does the system fulfill the SAR limits for general public? Do not accept anything but specific and definite answers to the regulatory questions before even considering to invest into this kind of tech.

  46. Re:Patent Wrappers & Colorado Springs Notes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I used to have some cool books from Yugoslavia, wish I could find them. As I remember, the big problem was ground conduction, as far as the losses went. The New York shore looked promising. -hoboroadie

  47. Re:Confusing magnetic resonance and radiated RF po by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No matter what kind of technology is used in the antennas a local RF magnetic field is produced. This will necessarily cause induction currents in any exposed conductors. In MR systems these currents are always supressed by special traps inserted over all electrical conductors in the proximity of the transmission coils. A cable without supression devices can become a focussing device for RF fields and cause high SAR. Why should we accept high SAR from this tech but at the same time be wary of SAR effects from cell phones?

    A home equipped with long distance wireless power transfer antennas would need to have supression devices inserted on any and all cables that can be brought near the transmission antennas. This is impossible to guarantee. A mismatching or non-supressed cable could become a fire hazard due to uncontrolled induction heating. I have seen this happening in MR systems.

  48. Re:Tesla by Mashdar · · Score: 1

    I could build a (very expensive) field generator with some funky shaped field with much of the flux passing through some point six feet away. Only problem is, you'd have to stand in that exact spot.

    I agree that these products are BS and/or a waste of energy. If you just think about field lines, either they all pass through your phone or they don't. If they cover a wide area, clearly most of the possible flux is not hitting your phone. Fields 101.

    I suppose you could install many field generators and have them test if there is a resistance associated with a receiver. But I don't see how you could do this and have high efficiency several feet off the ground. The geometry just doesn't work, IMO.

  49. wat by shiftless · · Score: 2

    .....? So how many of Heinlein's novels did you have to read before finally concluding his non-cursing creeps you out? Was it a growing sensation, a feeling of unease slowly building inside you, nibbling away at your very soul as you shifted restlessly on your seat, brow furrowed in discontent? I can just imagine you sitting there with feet kicked back in your overstuffed blue armchair by a cozy fire, suddenly shooting straight to your feet when it dawns on you: "Holy shit! Now I realize what's been bugging me the fuck out about this crazy ass novel! It's been six chapters now and not the first fucking sign of a cussword. I'm starting to think the guy is a goddamn prude, honestly. There sure as hell better really be something lewd or crude in this incestuous intra-family love triangle / murder he's currently setting up, or I just might throw this book across the room......before hurriedly snatching it up and continuing reading to confirm that he did indeed not curse once. By God if I have to suffer through every single one of his bullshit Puritanistic preachings to get my satisfaction I will! And if I don't get it.....? Well I suppose Heinlein is a really fucking creepy guy."

    1. Re:wat by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      You know, I hadn't considering the fact that Heinlein never did cuss either, not since I was a teenager at any rate. Perhaps it was something about the era the books were written in; I don't believe any of the other sci-fi I grew up on (novels primarily in the 50's and 60's, primarily) contained much if any, either. Nevertheless, there was something about L.Ron's writing that was struck me as slightly off; the absence of cussing always seemed to stand out like a sore thumb - perhaps it was because his depictions were otherwise so graphical (if I'm even remembering correctly; it's been 20 years). I seem to recall that writers of hard SF from a generation earlier would have skipped over certain sorts of details. You do bring up an interesting point, pitiful attempt at insult notwithstanding. :)

    2. Re:wat by tragedy · · Score: 1

      I think you have L. Ron Hubbard and Heinlein mixed up.

  50. Tesla Worship by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Personally, I think the Tesla worship among geeks has gotten WAY out of hand in recent years. Yeah, I know the Evil Rich Guy Edison vs. the Poor But Plucky Tesla makes for a great literary narrative. And I don't discount the guy's work (particularly with alternating current, which he was right to argue for over DC as a practical means of long range electrical transmission). But he wasn't a god, he wasn't 100 years ahead of his time (as some recent hyperbole would have it), he didn't invent anything which subsequent engineers haven't since replicated and improved on, and he didn't certainly didn't invent EVERYTHING (the list of claimed inventions seems to get longer every year, in spite of the fact that he remains decisively dead).

    I think we do him an honor to recognize his REAL work. But we do him a dishonor to exaggerate, or even mystify, his accomplishments.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Tesla Worship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Telsa was a amazing person, but he was not even known until the media started there conspiracy over his Monster Tower, which according to him would power every corner of the world, (but resulted in a large plasma ball, again a media conspiracy). A lot of his patents and notes have been seized and kept classified, so for all we know some or an unknown amount of his work is currently being used by governments, or military. There is know way of no way of knowing what he is responsible for creating or his theories that are currently being used to this day, or things that were inspired because of his theories/ideas.

      He was not a god but you are not telling the whole story of how a number of his ideas/patents/theories are still classified, to me it means other scientists find it highly plausible, and do not want other governments or normal people who could be geniuses to break through and actually be successful in bringing his ideas into the world. And from some things I have heard/read would become a catch 22.

    2. Re:Tesla Worship by MickLinux · · Score: 1

      I dunno, it isn't Tesla worship: but at least his real work, good , bad, or useless, was real work, and was really his. I think Edison once pointed out that Tesla would never be great because he didn't know how to steal. That from a man who did steal, and kill, too. Seems to me that after TARP, you would have had enough of great men. If that wasn't enough, there's the quadrennial election.

      Tesla's inventions may not be practical for various purposes, but they did have a use within their own limits.

      --
      Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
    3. Re:Tesla Worship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A lot of his patents and notes have been seized and kept classified

      Bullshit. Just another in a long line of horseshit conspiracy theories surrounded Tesla. No reputable source makes any such claim, just the nutballs.

    4. Re:Tesla Worship by JBMcB · · Score: 2

      Allright...

      >but he was not even known until the media started there conspiracy over his Monster Tower

      Utterly false - he had a famous exhibit with Westinghouse at the 1893 World's Fair. He was quite well known at the time.

      > A lot of his patents and notes have been seized and kept classified

      I've heard this claim over and over. I've never seen anyone provide any proof.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    5. Re:Tesla Worship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For the record, that would actually be *consistent* with the claim that his patents and notes have been seized and kept classified. If you want to debunk the claim that something is being kept secret, you have to do better than, "I've never seen it.".

    6. Re:Tesla Worship by JBMcB · · Score: 3

      For the record, that would actually be *consistent* with the claim that his patents and notes have been seized and kept classified. If you want to debunk the claim that something is being kept secret, you have to do better than, "I've never seen it.".

      I'm not debunking anything as I don't have to. Some of Tesla's personal effects were seized by the government after his death and released to his nephew a few years later. Some of his documents went missing. It's possible that the government kept and classified them. It's also possible that they were simply lost, or stolen by someone else.

      Now you need some back story. Tesla was a believer in aether theory - a theory that there was undetected type of matter that energy could flow through. These theories were shown false around the same time relativity was becoming popular (Tesla rejected the theory of relativity.)

      If Tesla's dreaded beam energy weapon was based on the concepts of aether theory, the possibility of it working is basically nil.

      So, what's more likely - Tesla was smarter than Einstein, Lorentz, Feynman, Hawking, Hubble, and a few hundred other extremely bright guys, understood physics in a manner unknown to all of mankind, and it's dumb luck that all our modern gizmos that depend on special relativity to operate function as they should.
      Or - Tesla was wrong about relativity, his beam weapon never worked, and the papers about this weapon were lost somewhere?

      Tesla was a certified genius. His contributions to electrical engineering are incalculably important. That doesn't mean he was infallible.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    7. Re:Tesla Worship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tesla was a certified genius. His contributions to electrical engineering are incalculably important. That doesn't mean he was infallible.

      No, that would be the pope.

  51. You are not stating the truth... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WHY was Marconi on Radio revoked & Tesla posthumously awarded as "The Father of Radio" then, hmmm?

    * See here -> http://www.tfcbooks.com/articles/tws8a.htm

    ---

    PERTINENT QUOTE/EXCERPT:

    "In 1943, the year of Tesla's death, a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court ,b>invalidated the Marconi patent because the fundamental radio circuit had been anticipated by Tesla. It is worthwhile noting the following definition of radio that was developed as a result of this case"

    ---

    (Now, be a good boy, & "EAT YOUR WORDS", & tell us - HOW DO THEY TASTE?)

    APK

    P.S.=> Compared to Nikola Tesla? His "peers" like Marconi & Edison were NUMBSKULLS... & Edison KNEW it if anything (hence, his 'campaign' to SMEAR alternating current & to have Tesla "wiped from the histories"). This was a GIGANTIC BLOW to his "ego"... no questions asked, based simply on noting Edison's "effete retaliation" reaction... apk

    1. Re:You are not stating the truth... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's going on with the world? A post from APK:

      • 1. That contained an actual verifiable fact
      • 2. Was on topic for the thread
      • 3. Not overly long
      • 4. Didn't descend into shrill "what have you ever done?" droolings
      • 5. That wasn't about hosts files

      At least the crazy formatting was still there, and you started foaming a bit by the P.S. Still, good job! That's personal growth!

  52. Re:Tesla by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Informative
    There's only one problem with people like you: You're always wrong. Tesla did do exactly what I said he did. Sorry it took me so long to check in and see some moron had gotten +5'd for handwaving while I got -1'd for telling the truth guys. Hopefully the mods will read the link and attached pictures and realize that yes, Tesla did have wireless power in the 1890s. Oh, and I was severely understating the distance: "Furthermore, the power loss experienced by Teslaâ(TM)s pulsed, electrostatic discharge mode of propagation was less than 5% over 25,000 miles. Dr. Van Voorhies states, âoe...path losses are 0.25 dB/Mm at 10 Hz,â which often is difficult for engineers to believe, who are used to transverse waves, a resistive medium, and line-of-sight propagation modes that can dissipate 10 dB/km at 5 MHz."

    I'm waiting for my apology.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  53. Charge phone from existing transmissions by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Sending out power for wireless charging is inefficent, but the radio and TV stations are already sending out tens of thousands of watts. Also your wifi is already transmitting. Absorbing that energy 24/7 would at least help keep a phone or some low power device charged, so why not.

  54. Re:Tesla by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 3, Informative

    The problem with Tesla's system is the frequency on which it operates. 10 Hz has a wavelength of 34.73 meters. Properly receiving power at that frequency requires an antenna sized to match. Needless to say, it's not going into a handheld device. Tesla intended his system to be used in relatively large scale fixed installations. You could power your house with it, but the individual pieces of equipment in the house would be wired to the receiver. So yes, in theory his system could eliminate the grid as we know it and that does indeed address "power over long distances" as the headline does (really long distances). However, it's solving a different problem, that of very long distances using very large equipment, rather than the handheld gear over tens of feet as the articles are arguing over.

  55. It depends entirely on the range of course by dbIII · · Score: 2

    The magnetic field drops off rapidly with distance. At very close range, south American monkey in treetops near the line during winter range, there is so much induction that there is enough heat to be felt so the monkies kept warm. A field strength that high was the cause of many miscarriages among women that used poorly shielded RF plastic welding machines in the USA in the 1950s-60s. You've got to be almost close enough to worry about arcing to get that much RF from a power line, but there are known problems. Where things get odd is people insisting that twenty metres from a line is a problem, when at that range you'd be getting a tiny percentage of what you'd get from an electric blanket.

  56. Re:Tesla by girlintraining · · Score: 1

    That's true, but the poster went off the deep end babbling about how what Tesla did was a myth, and it's crazy pseudo-science, and blah blah blah. Tesla succeeded in transmitting power over long distances and low loss rates wirelessly, that's historical fact. It may not work well with mobile devices, but I never claimed it did. I simply pointed out... it's not a new idea, or a new technology.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  57. No parlor trick here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    These are inductive near-field communication devices. They use a linear transformer (two circuits with self inductances, and a mutual inductance), with capacitors, to transfer power to a load. The capacitors cancel out the self-inductances of the transformer. There is no magic. Greg Durgin of Georgia Tech has a good lecture available on Youtube, that goes over the circuit analysis of such systems : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwEl5Up4AIU&feature=plcp

    The range of these systems is quite poor.

  58. Its as simple as physics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A static magnetic field falls off by the cube root of the distance 1/(4pi u_0 d^3)
    A static electric field falls off by the square root of the distance 1/(4 pi e_0 d^2)
    Flipping (alternating), or directing the field will not change this, its game over for power transfer if you want to put any distance between you and the receiver.

  59. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tesla did in-FACT transfer power a great distance. Even if you ignore his published findings go look into the Colorado springs newspaper archives. When he was first working at his lab over 60 miles away from CO. Springs he managed to transfer enough power to cause the generator to break down, and shock horses and several people. Hell Westinghouse funded Tesla to build Two towers to transfer power across the Atlantic. Tesla finished the tower on the east cost at Wardenclyff but funding fell through on the England side. It was also work that Tesla did developing the "Tesla coil" that directly lead to the development of the fly-back transformer, without which Filo Farnsworth wouldn't have been able to develop the TV set. Or how about Tesla's wireless telegraphy design before the advent of the radio? Or his brushless motor (The first one ever made)? Or the fact that JP Morgan went with Telas design over Edison's for the hydroelectric power plant at Niagara falls? The primary reason we don't use Tesla's tech today is because its all based on spark gap technology that has been outlawed by the FCC due to its interference to other spectrums, not because it didn't work. Do some research before you just open your mouth and shit everywhere.

  60. Re:Tesla by Raenex · · Score: 1

    I could build a (very expensive) field generator with some funky shaped field with much of the flux passing through some point six feet away. Only problem is, you'd have to stand in that exact spot.

    You need a flux capacitor.

  61. Comapre to edison worship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The reason geek bring up tesla worship so much is because your average non geek, not aware of edison real works, but rather of the aura he got, worship edison as if he was the inventor of many many things. The edison worship is much more irrational than the tesla worship.

  62. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    34.73m for 10 Hz? Shouldn't that be (299,792,458 m/s) / (10 Hz) = 30 Mm ?

  63. Billing by 'MAC' address. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Billing can occur by the address of the device. And while it will be able to be spoofed, and all forms of security will be developed, it will be no worse than your neighbour 'borrowing' your cable.

  64. So is paying $1000 for a pair of shoes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's all relative. It may seem useless to only get 10% efficiency from this power source, but if someone is willing to live with that inefficiency, what's the problem?

  65. Re:Tesla by Hast · · Score: 2

    I looked into that article and the guy who wrote it. The quote you're quoting comes from a book he wrote himself (although the quote is from a chapter written by some other guy.)

    Unfortunately I couldn't find an online reference however, so it's impossible to know just how the measurements "Dr Van Voorheis" mentions were made. So far I've had a hard time to find any examples of people who have actually reproduced the large scale effects that Tesla claimed to achieve.

    If you look for the author of the article (Thomas F. Valone) you find some YouTube clips where he's presenting a talk about UFO power sources. And he seems to be part of a MUFON which is apparently a group of UFO hunter enthusiasts. Now there's nothing really wrong with that, but it does mean that I'm not likely to take his claims at face value. And even he doesn't claim that the Tesla stuff is real, he only quotes other people (mostly Tesla himself).

    Meanwhile you have an article at IEEE (http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/mass-transit/a-critical-look-at-wireless-power/0) which seems to support the common understanding of wireless transmission of power. Basically that you can transmit power on roughly the same distance as the diameter of your coils. So a "charging pad" works, but powering a ship on the other side of the Earth doesn't.

    To summarize I have to say that I'm quite convinced that if Telsas "World Wireless System" would have worked the results would have been reproduced today. The economic benefits are way to large for it not to. I'm sure the military would have loved to have remote powered drones and stuff like that if it was possible.

  66. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why was his info "Illegally Seized " a at the time of his death and is still not known today ?

    Never happened. Bullshit. Conspiracy theorist crap.

  67. What about the green mat on the floor? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Am I the only one who noticed the green mat on the floor?

  68. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unfortunately I couldn't find an online reference however, so it's impossible to know just how the measurements "Dr Van Voorheis" mentions were made.

    You didn't find any references to it because it never happened. The guy who wrote that book is a UFO conspiracy theorist nutball. Tesla invented no such thing, and the only people who claim he did are nutballs, citing the deranged claims of other nutballs as "evidence." It's like a mental hospital where the patients all back each other up and subsequently get crazier and crazier as a result of their batshit crazy echo chamber (or much like political parties, I suppose).

  69. Re:Tesla by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

    he didn't invent wireless communication. look up photophone (1880) or David E. Hughes 1889 or Heinrich Hertz or Chandra Bose

    Theoretical experimentation != invention.

    If it did, I would be considered one of the "inventors" of anti-gravity.

    One popular comic ass talks about Tesla, makes factual wrong statements about Tesla, and every self proclaimed 'nerd' starts repeating it like it's actual fact.

    Or, one popular comic ass talks about Tesla, and every self-aggrandizing asshole and his brother comes out of the woodworks to accuse everyone else knowing precisely dick about the topic.

    Get over yourself, dude - some of us were Tesla fanatics long before there was such a thing as shitty web comics.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  70. Electronically Tunable Phased Array by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A Tunable Phased Array should get you a roughly linear beam in an almost arbitrary direction. If you can detect the location of your receiver, you're all set - just keep tracking it as it moves. If you can switch your array quickly, you can even feed multiple receivers by time-slicing.

    You could do the same thing with parabolic reflectors, or masers.

    Not nearly as efficient as wired power, and not something I'd want pointed at me at high power, but not impossible.

  71. Off-topic b.s. "the best you've got"?... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I always use FACTS - & that's what you little trolls can't seem to handle very well (since I use those facts to UTTERLY DISPOSE OF "YOUR KIND", with ease... truth's LIKE that boys - get used to it!).

    * However, then again? That's what "your kind" is used to in this life - being "blown away", lol!

    APK

    P.S.=> All you have now, as per your AC trolling usual? Off-topic b.s. that has nothing to do with the subject @ hand - it's ALWAYS the same, blowing away b.s. artists that spout utter b.s. like you have...

    ... apk

    1. Re:Off-topic b.s. "the best you've got"?... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was complimenting your post, jackass. I do love how you always have to have the last word. Couldn't you have thrown in some bold for me with those random caps though?

      Did you see that timecube/hosts file parody somebody else did on you? Pretty funny stuff: http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3222163&cid=41832417

  72. You FAIL, badly ...apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    IF the "best you've got" is going off-topic and doing impersonations of myself (not a first here by ANY means on this forums) OR attempting to "mock me"? You only prove my point more.

    * You FAIL, and you know it, I KNOW IT, as does anyone else reading.

    APK

    P.S.=> The funniest part that backs my last reply to you, and regarding custom hosts files? None of you EVER has disproved a single point of my posts on them... not a one. No, instead? All you have/"the best you've got", is b.s. like what you posted... speaks WORLDS in MY favor vs. you & those like you (trolls)...

    ... apk

    1. Re:You FAIL, badly ...apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      er... many people have disproved your points about hosts files with well reasoned, factual arguments. You just chose not to listen and made it into some kind of bizarre crusade. And I'm not the timecube guy, just someone else who finds you intensely obnoxious and likes winding you up to waste your time.

  73. Sci-Fi dream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think it would be amazing if a giant solar panel could be built in space that could wireless transmit power back to the planet.

  74. Re:Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Furthermore, the power loss experienced by Teslaâ(TM)s pulsed, electrostatic discharge mode of propagation was less than 5% over 25,000 miles. Dr. Van Voorhies [...]

    Where did Tesla manage to set up an experiment that allowed transmission over 25,000 mile distance? If the answer is that it went around the world, I'd point out that it seems a lot more likely that it was taking the shortcut.

  75. Westinghouse patents by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure Mitt finds the tale of Nikola's humble unfettering of American Enterprise inspiring.

  76. Inductive charging by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Back during WWII, some enterprising folks stole power from the near field of a UK radio station. Neat trick -- but they were prosecuted for hurting the war effort. Inductive charging works, but earlier comments regarding inefficiency are spot on. in a warming world, where we actually worry about the cumulative effects of all those chargers plugged into the walls 24/7, let's hope this technology never catches on.

  77. "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!", lmao ...apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "many people have disproved your points about hosts files with well reasoned, factual arguments." - by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 01, @12:28PM (#41843299)

    Considering you RAN (lol, like the "beyotch" you are) from disproving them here today no less -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3222163&cid=41843523

    ?

    (Please... lol!)

    * QUESTION: What is it like being a totally cowardly waste of life like yourself?

    ---

    "You just chose not to listen and made it into some kind of bizarre crusade" - by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 01, @12:28PM (#41843299)

    Ok, I'm listening - go for it!

    Disprove my points on custom hosts files that benefit end-users of them in terms of:

    ---

    1.) Better speed-bandwidth & electricity usage they pay for out of pocket

    2.) Better "layered-security"/"defense-in-depth"

    3.) Better reliability (vs. downed or DNS-"poisoned" redirected DNS servers)

    4.) Better speed via hardcodes of favorite sites as hosts file records properly resolved

    5.) Better anonymity (to an extent vs. DNS request logs)

    ... & more...

    ---

    If you keep running from that challenge, just as you did here -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3222163&cid=41843523 you're only showing us further that you truly ARE, a cowardly little worm that likes telling lies... nothing more.

    (Just how BADLY have I utterly "dusted" you here or elsewhere in computing technical related debate that your "geek angst" is so "up" that you must continue to stalk & harass me as well as impersonate & libel me as well, hmmm?)

    APK

    P.S.=> I mean that - is your life SO "f'd up" that you "get off" on trolling others online?? Are you really THAT pitiful, ALL THE TIME???

    "And I'm not the timecube guy" - by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 01, @12:28PM (#41843299)

    Sure, you stalking freak... bullshit!

    You posted about it here in this thread -> http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3222519&cid=41842433

    AND

    You did your MILES LONG b.s. post designed to "mock me" -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3222163&cid=41832417

    (& others called you a nutjob there for it -> http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3222163&cid=41832445 also - GROW UP, or get professional psychiatric help already...)

    "just someone else who finds you intensely obnoxious" - by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 01, @12:28PM (#41843299)

    Oh yes, lol - stalking, harassing, libeling, & trolling others is SO "not obnoxious"... give us a break, freak!

    ---

    "and likes winding you up to waste your time" - by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 01, @12:28PM (#41843299)

    Yes, stalking & harassing others is "CONSTRUCTIVE" use of YOUR time!

    Please... all you end up doing is wearing egg on your face for your blatant lies, and looking even more foolish running from an honest challenge YOU say you can 'back up'... ok, do it then.

    (Good luck - nobody here EVER has disproved my points on hosts files & 100's here agree they're great!)

    Seriously - Go get professional psychiatric help already (you freak)...

    ... apk

  78. Marvin Heemeyer or Shawn Nelson ? by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    At this point though, the volcano powerplant makes more sense.

    dude, you forgot the link to your Kickstarter page!

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  79. eh, sonny? by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    Isn't effective data rate directly correlated with power levels?

    So yelling at grandpa really does make him understand quicker?

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  80. /. full of Edison's agents, educated stupid! by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    Next you're going to try to tell us that Telsa didn't invent the teleporter! [*]!


    [*] granted, it was more a remote matter duplicator than a true telporter, but there's ways of dealing with that.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  81. Re:Tesla by girlintraining · · Score: 2

    If it's an isotropic antenna radiating the power, then yes... the amount of received energy decreases as a square of the distance. But tesla wasn't using isotropic antennas. In fact, he was basically using giant coils to induce current flow in the Earth's magnetic field. By coupling it to the already-existing magnetic field, he could transmit power over very long distances at low losses... but it required a very low frequency (7.8hz) and a massive amount of input energy to run the process. It was definately not a mobile technology, and it depended on having a massive several-story tall coil as a receiver, again due to the very low frequency above.

    You're not going to be powering drones using Tesla's technology... but you could transmit power from coast to coast rather than just regionally using our existing grid.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  82. Re:Tesla by Pentium100 · · Score: 1

    It was also work that Tesla did developing the "Tesla coil" that directly lead to the development of the fly-back transformer, without which Filo Farnsworth wouldn't have been able to develop the TV set.

    Why would the flyback transformer be crucial for a TV set?

    Yes, all modern CRT TVs have flyback transformers to generate the EHT for the anode (and several other voltages), but this can be easily accomplished with regular 50/60Hz transformers. In fact, early sets actually used linear power supplies for EHT. Those power supplies had a drawback - safety. The CRT needs only a little current (a few mA) for it to work, but the power supplies could provide more than that (not at the nominal voltage, but still), which means that if someone touched the anode wire while the TV set was on, they were toast. The flyback transformer used in modern sets cannot provide enough current to kill a healthy adult, it also has the additional feature that since it is driven by the horizontal deflection circuitry, if the scanning stopped, the EHT voltage would shut down too and the CRT phosphor would not burn in one spot (computer monitors drive the flyback from a separate circuit, so they have separate protection to shut it down in case of a failure).

    Yes, Tesla invented many useful technologies, but that does not mean that everything that he attempted to do worked or that it would have worked if he had enough money.

  83. Magnets are even better by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    They drop off with the CUBE of distance.