It seems that everything is going wireless these days by using radio and infrared communication. Bluetooth is being put into most portable electronics,everyone including kindergarteners carry cell phones, laptops are all wi-fi ready, wireless mice and keyboards are sitting untethered on people's desks, but we are all still plugged in to the wall. (I know laptops break free from time to time, but as they get older, they tend to get plugged in more often.)
Will we see wireless transmission of power to our appliances any time soon? I realize that this has been done over very short distances, like rechargeable toothbrushes and recharging pads for portable electronics, but I want to know for distances from 1-50 feet. Or would it be too dangerous to have such huge quantities of power floating through the air? If we used directed energy, would people get fried it they crossed the beam? What do you think?
2007-01-29 10:28:19 · 6 answers · asked by Kyle 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
Can anyone provide studies that suggest that this is not feasible? Also, please read the question, I am talking about transmitting power over a distance from 1-50 feet. More takers please! I only got one good answer so far!
2007-01-29 16:04:00 · update #1
Yes. For distances of 50 feet or so, it is definitely possible to transmit power. A RADAR is a good example. Think of a microwave oven with a directional antenna. The more power you want to transmit, the more dangerous it is to a person that gets in the way of the beam. Not really "cancer" dangerous. More like "crispy fried" dangerous.
The problem is that it's very inefficient to transmit power in this way. When you transmit electricity via wire, you only "use" power if you turn on the appliance. When you "beam" energy, it is gone whether or not something is making use of the energy on the other end.
You might be able to have some sort of directional system that only turns on when needed, but then if you wanted to move the object that is receiving power, you'd need some sort of automated tracking system with the transmitter continually redirecting power to the moving appliance. And if you don't need to move the object receiving power, why not just hook up a cord and save yourself the extra expense?
Also, the process of converting regulated electricity into RF and back is enormously wasteful to say nothing of the power lost over the transmission distance. And like I said before, it's very dangerous to transmit large amounts of power this way.
You'd have to think of an application where "beaming" energy is better than our current "plug in and recharge" model (like your bluetooth headset / laptop computer for example). You'd want an application that needs very little power, and is fairly close to the power source.
One practical application I know of is RFID tags. They are little microchips that are powered by RF energy. They are used to store information that can be retrieved when the RF-transmitting "reader" asks for it.
I suppose solar powered calculators (and any other solar powered device for that matter) are technically another example. Power is "beamed" from the light source to your calculator.
2007-01-29 20:14:28 · answer #1 · answered by tom_2727 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Good question! In fact, the scientist Nikola Tesla had an idea to do just that about a century ago. He proposed an electric generator in everyone's home, emitting an electromagnetic field that would supply power to all the appliances in the home. He also proposed power transmission over long distances by this method, which would replace power lines.
In theory this is possible. In practise, the intensity of the EM fields would be so high, that it would not be safe to live in a home that was powered that way.
2007-01-29 10:34:47 · answer #2 · answered by acafrao341 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Frankly speaking what your seeing these days is just wave transmission like for cell phones and for rechargable tooth brushes are is just solar energy(waves) being converted to another form of energy.
Practically transmitting heavy power e.g 33kV,172KV at least a conducting media is needed and by the way, air has a very big infinite resistance, so it will not be possible at all transmitting power wirelessly.
2007-01-29 10:40:59 · answer #3 · answered by jodesy 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
As i know the basic principal of wireless power is the souce frequency should be the same as the resonance frequency in the receiver just like how an opera singers breaks a glass.
2016-03-29 08:45:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
its possable but require huge megnitic beams focued in a area.
2007-01-29 10:31:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's done inside tranformers all the time.
2007-01-29 10:34:45 · answer #6 · answered by Al 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋