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Gov't Researchers Develop Wireless Car Chargers That Are Faster Than Plug-ins (computerworld.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the government-research dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Computerworld: The U.S. Department of Energy has demonstrated a 20,000 watt (20KW) wireless car-charging system that offers three times the efficiency of today's plug-in systems for electric vehicles (EVs). The research is the first step in creating a 50KW wireless charging system that may someday allow roadways to charge vehicles while they are being driven. The DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee demonstrated the new system in partnership with Toyota, Cisco Systems, Evatran and the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research. ORNL said the 20KW charging system for passenger cars is the world's highest power wireless system. It was developed in less than three years using a "unique architecture that included an ORNL-built inverter, isolation transformer, vehicle-side electronics and coupling technologies."

2 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Extremely dangerous by burtosis · · Score: 2, Interesting

    50kw, or even 20kw is extremely dangerous to couple. Outside of the leaking RF spectrum possibly interfering with electronics, the danger is something with a similar resonant field could be nearby and absorb some of that power. Even just a few tens of watts could start a fire. They probably need something akin to a gfci circuit that monitors the power in and out precisely and if something is absorbing power that shouldn't be, notice the discrepancy and terminate the charge.

    The actual picture is pretty funny, with a ginormous briefcase put under the back of the vehicle, a mere 2 inches above the similar unit embedded in the floor. No way is that remotely practical, they would need to increase the air gap by at least triple, to 5x+ to properly mount it under reasonable vehicles. To keep the same coupling, the size would then have to be increased substantially. Further there is no way in hell that is working while you drive, it has to be precisely aligned which isn't going to happen period, even at stoplights. I could see it embedded into a garage stall, or even a parking stall outdoors, perhaps, but alignment would be a major issue and one that is not being addressed at this stage from anything I can gather.

    1. Re:Extremely dangerous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      There was an old rule-of-thumb in the electrical trades. A million volts won't do anything, but an Amp will kill you.

      I'd hate to see the safety guidelines on a 20,000 (or 50,000) watt connector. To make this semi-safe, you'd need a high voltage system, something in the order of 25,000 V or higher. That's higher voltage than a residential home, and higher voltage than a "primary customer" (think electrically intensive customers). It is within the upper range of a "subtransmission customer"

      So basically they claim they can do this quickly and efficiently provided you have the same kind of electrical connection that an aluminum plant might have to electrically smelt aluminum. Those don't grow on trees, and if you had access to that much electricity, hell yes you could charge a car three times faster. You could also smelt it.