Slashdot Mirror
FCC Approves First Wireless 'Power-At-A-Distance' Charging System (engadget.com)
The FCC has approved the first wireless charger that works from up to three feet away. Engadget reports: San Jose-based startup, Energous, announced on Tuesday that it has received the first such FCC certification for power-at-a-distance wireless charging with its WattUp Mid Field transmitter. The transmitter converts electricity into radio frequencies, then beams the energy to nearby devices outfitted with a corresponding receiver. This differs from the resonant induction method that the Pi wireless charging system relies upon and offers a greater range than the Belkin and Mophie chargers that require physical contact with the device. The WattUp can charge multiple devices simultaneously and should work on any number of devices, from phones and tablets to keyboards and earbuds, so long as they're outfitted with the right receiver. What's more, the WattUp ecosystem is manufacturer-agnostic -- like WiFi -- meaning that you'll still be able to, for example, charge your Samsung phone even if the transmitter is made by Sony or Apple.
No thanks. I like my DNA unmodified and my retinas not-fried. Do you really want to be in the same room with this thing?
I bet California, who recently warned about having your cellphone near your body, will just love this.
Remote control, wireless transmission of power, alternating current, multi-phase alternating current, induction motors, incandesent bulbs...the list does go on. Like many brilliant men he had illusions of grandeur and he had a 19th century mindset because, well, he was born and raised in the 19th century.
You ranting about a few of his crack pot ideas doesn't make him less of a genius. It just means that like most geniuses especially prior to the 20th century, he had a few crackpot ideas.
You're annoyed because Tesla has contributed considerably to the world while you... well... did not contribute anything? Poor soul.
Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
Actually, WattUp's technology stem from the same idea as behind this gadget :
Regular wireless emission would suffer from the inverse square law.
So instead, you need to avoid spreading the power all over.
The thinkgeek gadget tries to solve the problem by using highly directional antennas.
WattUp attempts to solve it by using enormous arrays of antennas, beam forming, modelling of the room, etc. to try to focus the emitted energy as precisely as possible in pocket around the charged device.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
And what happens if we don't implement eugenics in some form? In the long run.
You end up reproducing.
Basically the efficiency sucks because you can't beat physics. If the power is sent out in all directions then if you double the distance from the device you have an 1/8 of the available power. You can do better by focussing the power in a beam but the beam will spread as it goes farther from the device. Then you have interactions with the atmosphere which will further reduce the efficiency.
Unless there is a communication protocol between the devices and the charger and a pencil like beam could be created, steered and transmitted, the efficiency of this device likely to be very poor, and the range extremely limited.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
You're a tool.
Beware of the Leopard.
Sorry, but your basic physics and biology make this idea a no-go. Re biology, it takes just milliwatts per square centimeter to cause cataracts. Most remote-power uses require a lot more than a few milliwatts per square cm of receiving antenna. Regarding the physics, you need area to capture power and the power goes down as the square of the distance. Those two main issues combined mean you can't send much power more than a few inches.
Yeah, that's the problem with this line of reasoning; everything is a genetic disability, until it isn't. And a lot of times, you get good and bad. I.e. on the plus side, you're now resistant to malaria. On the negative side, you're now prone to sickle-cell anemia.
The point Darwin tried to make, and that so many people miss, is that evolution isn't a journey to a pre-defined end goal, but an adaptation to specific environments. Today's advantage might be tomorrow's weakness, and vice versa. All the other finches are laughing at your thick, blunt beak, which is useless for picking insects out of narrow holes, until a storm blows a bunch of you over to the next island, where the insects are lacking but there's delicious nuts who's hard shells you can crack with your now mighty and advantageous beak.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
This whole thing is crap.
Will it be perfectly efficient ? For sure, not.
(I mean even the Palm/HP's Touchstone surface induction system, which - unlike the Qi system mentioned in the summary - uses magnet to better align the phone with the induction surface, isn't very efficient neither, despite being as close to the emitter as possible)
Will it be a tiny bit better than plain blasting from a globally diffusing antenna ?
Sure, it's going to be a tiny bit better.
It’s surprising the FCC approved it.
FCC's (and similar body is other jurisdiction) only job is to regulate things which might be dangerous and/or damage or disturb other radio equipment.
They don't give a damn if it makes sense economically or in terms of efficiency.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]