Losing wires in recharging…

Tuesday, December 23, 2008, 6:42
Technology
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Let’s have a dream for this world to become totally wireless. Let us imagine that in every aspect, whether in electronics or in electrical technology, there will be no wires, only wireless power transmission will be the means to meet the ends. The great scientist Nicola Tesla has long before dreamt of the wireless world studded with enormous Tesla coils, let alone that fantasy but the edge of thinking about that fantasy to become real is approaching.

Though advancements gave birth to very small scale wireless power transmission, it is only limited to the likes of recharging electric toothbrushes and etc. Significantly this concept has failed to prove itself while making inroad to consumer level gears and commodities. But this summer Intel researchers made some points that shook the so called technologists. They demonstrated a method on MIT research for throwing electricity a distance of a few feet, without wires of course and without any threat to the surrounding bystanders. Intel calls the research a “Wireless Resonant Energy Link”. Behind the scenes it works by sending a specific 10MHz signal through a coil of wire, a similar nearby coil of wire will resonate in that frequency too, causing the electron of the later coil to flow and dissipate energy. The design may sound a little primitive, but still it can light up a 60-watt bulb with 70 percent efficiency.

Now, keeping in mind all these, we are to ask the million dollar question, when in the shops will we have it? The answer, well, sure is not known yet, for many obstacles still remain. One of the big issues is the gadgets today, using direct current version of electricity to be charged up, but the Intel project used alternating current. The DC helps the chargers to get small in stature too. Also, considering the speculated hazard the project has, it will be tacks on the street against passing it from lots of regulatory hurdles before being commercialized. If all these go fortunately and reasonably well, it will take 6 to 8 years to embed the chargeable unit onto the gadgets and the power transmitter to places.