Wireless power?? sweeeet

[Hags]

I was just wondering if anybody esle has thought of the idea of having wireless power in the future, and was also wondering if anyone has been experimenting with it at all and/or has invented it in some way, or if it could even be possible

[enhanced08]

i think it will be awhile before anything like that comes out. electronics have been around for years and years and still no one has figured out how. i did however see a wireless mouse that uses no batteries! it gets its power from the mouse pad, i'm not sure how it works but i would say that as close as we have come so far.

[timbit]

well, i had it working. there was only one problem... i could get the 120 volts from the wall to the computer, but everytime someone walked in between the wall and the computer.... bzzzt... j/k
but seriously, i've wondered about that myself. i don't think it works all that well for lots of reasons. one of the biggest ones that i can think of is that air is not a great conductor. and it would have to be line of sight. if anything got in the way, then you'd lose your flow (and whatever got in the way, say like the family pet, would be a little uncomfortable).

[roomwithamoose]

It'll be here eventually. I don't think it'll be true wireless power though. They'll figure out how to send a very small amount of power through the air, the unit will recieve this very small amount and use tranformers inside to increase the amount of electricty. At least, that's how I see it happening.

[conexion]

I saw that a long time ago like 8 or 7 years . People was sending high voltages through air testing it, but I think they got high magnetic fields and I don't know if they still doing it.

[shadowbreaker513]

They do have wireless power. I remember my vb.net teacher telling about this test they did a few years ago with a 20-mile radius where there was wireless power. There were too many problems that couldn't be solved to continue with it.

[Byte 2.0]

remember Nikola Tesla and Tesla Coils?

also. seems I remember a few years back an experiment to transform High voltages to radio waves and aim them at receivers in a tight configuration and be able to convert them back to high voltages.

Best I remember, they wanted to have energy stations in orbit, and have them beem the power down to Earth to supply power grids.

The downside I seem to remember was from orbit to the ground station they needed like a 20 mile area for the receiving and it was like mico waves which would fry anything that goes in the path.

Seems they same out fit was working on a small, airplane done that was electric powered and they would broadcast power to the done. However they ground broadcaster had to stay on track with the plane and the power beem of course was larger then the plane so it was not efficient. The beem that missed the plane was just lost.

[TennBikeBerk]

In electric toothbrushes, the chargers are usually wireless (from the charger to toothbrush).

[hobey19]

Originally Posted by TennBikeBerk In electric toothbrushes, the chargers are usually wireless (from the charger to toothbrush).

you sure? all of the electric toothbrushes i have ever used make it so you have to physically set the toothbrush on the charger

craig

[DarkHorse]

RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) chips are "powered" wirelessly. They're passive elements made of some sort of carbon, and when you sweep them through a certain radio field they will absorb some of the energy and send out its own unique signal which can then be read and interpreted. They plan on using it for store check-outs and tracking certain items, maybe even personal identification. Some doctors have already implanted special ones into their skin that act as a password that grants access to personal medical information.

Providing any significant amount of power wirelessly would almost certainly involve the intense magnetic fields required to induce current in another conductor. Unless these fields are extremely well controlled, you'll just get lots of losses as the field induces a current in every metallic object around, not just the one you want.

My old circuits professor told a story (don't know if it's true or not) about a guy that built a wire next to some high voltage lines. Because of the intense fluctuating fields around them, he got a bunch of electrical power essentially for free, and the power company just wrote them off as usual line losses.

[hETUL]

This my first post.
Transferring electricity through air is call: inductive charging.
here is a site that has more info on one of the model that GM makes.

[hETUL]

http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/wateran..._inductive.asp

[Byte 2.0]

My old circuits professor told a story (don't know if it's true or not) about a guy that built a wire next to some high voltage lines. Because of the intense fluctuating fields around them, he got a bunch of electrical power essentially for free, and the power company just wrote them off as usual line losses.

Actually I have heard about this. From what I remember he put a building undering the high power lines and had coils of copper wireless that actually received the power.

There is normal lose in transmission from point A to point B and the power companies know how much to expect. I heard when the power company had over many years, about 15-20 years noticed that one area was losing more power then expected. They sent out survey teams and found the power lose was at that dude's place and he had some pretty big fines. Weather or not it is true or an urban legends that remains to be seen i guess.

[bdanner302]

very likely true.... kinda like a friend of mine who works for a cable company... his job was to find cable losses and fix them... One guy somehow made a line send out so much signal for free.. that my friend picked up the cable tv without an antenna on the tv a couple blocks away

[Hags]

wow, i got some power lines near my house maybe i could build my own little power station nah I dont need any fines my wallet is hurtin enough, but just think of the ultimate possibilites, everything that is wireless today would not need batteries, Kind of like WI-Fi in all the starbucks and airlines and what not, they could have wireless power available also

[Hi Ho]

Originally Posted by TennBikeBerk In electric toothbrushes, the chargers are usually wireless (from the charger to toothbrush).

The only ones I have seen like that are the Sonicare ones. I have one and I haven't figured out how it charges. There are no metal contacts. You set it in the base and it's plastic on plastic.

[HAL9000]

As Byte had mentioned.. do some reading on Nikola Tesla. He had invented a method of wireless power for the entire world. The only drawback to it was the fact that it could be used as a weapon as well. His proven plans for the device were torn apart into (I believe) six separate pieces and sold to six separate nations.. US, Canada, France, Russia, and I don't remember the other two. He had the foresight to realize this was a device to split across nations that aren't gonna work together.

[roomwithamoose]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 As Byte had mentioned.. do some reading on Nikola Tesla. He had invented a method of wireless power for the entire world. The only drawback to it was the fact that it could be used as a weapon as well. His proven plans for the device were torn apart into (I believe) six separate pieces and sold to six separate nations.. US, Canada, France, Russia, and I don't remember the other two. He had the foresight to realize this was a device to split across nations that aren't gonna work together.

Wasn't that a Star Trek: TNG episode???

And about the idea of getting free energy from high power lines, the Mythbusters proved that one wrong. It actually does work, but the amount of energy needed to make it efficient is rediculous.

Tesla was a genious. He is responsible for the entire world being AC based. Edison was pushing for DC, but Tesla had some connections and conviced the governement to go AC.

Which would be better? I've worked (minorly) with AC, and am now learning DC. It's hard making the switch. I've been trying to figure out which would be better.

[hobey19]

Originally Posted by Hi Ho The only ones I have seen like that are the Sonicare ones. I have one and I haven't figured out how it charges. There are no metal contacts. You set it in the base and it's plastic on plastic.

induction, perhaps?

craig

[bailey]

when I was a kid, I built a wireless powered radio, you would take the rf field and recetify it and filter it to get dc power that would in turn power the transistors to run the radio, and it worked good as long as you were not too far from the stations transmitting tower.

[Byte 2.0]

[quote]And about the idea of getting free energy from high power lines, the Mythbusters proved that one wrong. It actually does work, but the amount of energy needed to make it efficient is rediculous.[quote]

Actually Mythbusters where busting the myth of free power or over unity( gain of more then 100 percent).

It is know that High power, power lines lose allot of energy, anything less then a super conductor loses energy, and super conductors are not pracitical for running power lines.

However, the mythbusters did prove it is possible to pick up slight current, and that was inside Jamies building, which looks like it would block allot of outside RF.

With a property setup, Coils of copper or something under High Power, power lines It should be possible to pick up a decent amount of energy. Would be highly illegal and dangerous.

[Byte 2.0]

ok, a file that has passed around work shows the transfer of energy wireless.

1.5 megs, audio has more effect. Wish I had access to more of this clip.

http://www.asmallbyte.com/images/Lugo_SWR.mpeg

[enhanced08]

WOW!!!

thats the coolest thing i have ever seen!!!!!

I WANT ONE!!
lol

[HAL9000]

Here is a brief description of Tesla's wireless power concept... I saw a show on this once and it's a pretty intresting concept. I would think it comes down to capitalism tho... how do you charge for power that is available all over the world without wires?

http://www.braincourse.com/wirelessa.html

[sigmaseven]

Down with the blood-hungry Capitalists!

[Byte 2.0]

I have a link that explains that video I posted.

http://www.wiseguysynth.com/larry/day.htm

[roomwithamoose]

Originally Posted by Byte 2.0 I have a link that explains that video I posted. http://www.wiseguysynth.com/larry/day.htm

Okay, that is incredible. Would that be 115 amps times 3 phases?

Also, about the Mythbusters, I thought that they had simply proved it possible but highly inefficent. They didn't exactly do what we're talking about, they had used the "Propane tank Wheel" and a couple other techniques, but they didn't try the coils under high power lines. I'm sure it would work, especially with big enough coils.

Also, I know it would be dangerous, but would it really be illegal? Wouldn't it be considered fair game since the power is actually in the air, and there is no way to regulate or calculate the amount that someone would be able to take and use? Also, if you were able to construct large enough coils to actually use enough electricty, would that affect the amount of power in the high power lines? What I mean is, would the utility companies be able to know that someone is running thier house for free off the "wireless power"?

[DarkHorse]

Conservation of Energy - energy can neither be created nor destroyed. If you're gaining useful power out of the lines, it's at the expense of someone else who might have used that power. Like Byte pointed out, the power company noticed they had unusually high losses along a particular section of wire and sent a team to check out what might be causing it - so yes, they can find out.

As to whether they'd be able to get you for it, I suppose it could be considered detrimental to the public good (same justification as when they build a highway through your home) and even if it technically wasn't legal, they'd still have the money and the power to get their way. This is lawyer territory though, so don't quote me on that. Where's LawyerRon when you need him?

[Byte 2.0]

Also, I know it would be dangerous, but would it really be illegal? Wouldn't it be considered fair game since the power is actually in the air, and there is no way to regulate or calculate the amount that someone would be able to take and use? Also, if you were able to construct large enough coils to actually use enough electricty, would that affect the amount of power in the high power lines? What I mean is, would the utility companies be able to know that someone is running thier house for free off the "wireless power"?

As I understand, it would create a draw on the power in the lines, so it would actually cause more power to be siphoned from the lines then what would normally be lost. So, as I see it, it could be possible, dangerous, and illegal.

It wouldn't really be free energy, since the power company would actually be suppling it.

However, NASA did a nice experiment Where the space shuttle Towed a line, which picked up power from the Magnettic field of the Earth. It generated allot of energy.

I don't have a link to the actually event, but I found a write up about it. I bet I can find the actually link soon.

http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9596/Feb20_96/artcl01.htm


Edit, here is a link from the 1996 attempt
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9602/shuttle/02-25/break/