Categories: Interesting Facts, Interesting electrical news
Number of views: 45750
Comments on the article: 12

Wireless power transmission: a difficult history of becoming

 

Wireless power transmissionOf the long list of fantastic technical ideas implemented today, only the dream of wireless transmission of electrical energy continues to remain unassailable. Detailed descriptions of energy rays in science fiction novels tease engineers with their obvious need, and at the same time the practical impossibility of implementation. But the situation is gradually changing for the better.

From the very beginning of the discovery of electricity, there was a problem of its transmission to the final consumer. The development of industrial production has led to a sharp increase in demand for electricity. Wires and poles of electric transmission lines have become an integral element of landscapes. But only specialists know how much money and effort is spent on maintaining these lines in working condition, and how much energy is lost in them.

Fossil resources are gradually running out, and energy supply problems are pushing hard at the door of energy. Modern human society has entered the era of space exploration, so our views turn to the obvious source of inexhaustible energy - the Sun. For billions of years, this thermonuclear reactor emits fantastic amounts of energy, a small part of which would be enough for humanity for many years. But one “small” problem: how to transfer the received energy to the consumer on Earth?

From this moment, a serious discussion begins about the possibilities of making humanity happy with unlimited resources. So far, there are two ways to solve the problem in the list of modern space technology tools. One is related to laser beam energy transfer to ground receiving terminals. Second - with microwave energy transfer.

Laser energy transfer encounters several fundamental difficulties. The first is related to the efficiency of the primary conversion of solar radiation into coherent laser radiation. And the second rests on the efficiency of energy transfer from space to Earth. On the first problem, there has been progress: scientists from Japan reported the conversion of solar energy into laser radiation with an efficiency of 42%. But the transfer of energy to the surface involves a number of tasks that are difficult to solve.

Attenuation of a laser beam whose diameter at the surface of the Earth can be hundreds of meters. Its intensity depends on weather conditions, the accuracy of pointing at the receiving terminal, and even the mass of parameters. Flying planes or flocks of birds caught in a power ray will distort or weaken its power. If such an incident goes unnoticed for an airplane, then the birds will suffer significantly: the radiation intensity near the surface of the Earth will be tens of times more powerful than the midday Sun.

The second way of energy transfer is microwave waves with frequencies from 2.4 to 5.8 GHz. Here there is an atmospheric “window” in which the attenuation of energy is minimal. But the receiving part of the energy is very complex and requires the development of modern antenna components. According to scientists, for transmitting a power of 5 MW from a height of 36,000 km (geostationary orbit), a transmitting antenna 1 km in size and a receiving antenna 10 km across will be required. Such facilities in the near future for humanity can not afford.

In this situation, progress began on the other side. The development of modern communications and mobile computing devices has required frequent recharging of their batteries. In principle, this does not present a particular problem, especially when you have one or two such devices. But if there are dozens of them in the family or office, then the continuous search for charging units compatible with products is distracting and annoying.

According to rumors, it was this circumstance that prompted Marina Solyachich, an employee of the University of Massachusetts, to The idea of ​​a way to transfer energy without wires. After the signal of a discharged mobile phone woke him several times in the middle of the night, he decided to seriously tackle the problem wirelessly charge your mobile devices.

As a result, it appeared completely new technology for transferring energy from the network to mobile devices. The method consists in resonant coupling using the magnetic field of the receiver and transmitter. Behind an incomprehensible name and no less obscure mechanism (the method is patented and kept secret), there is hidden a method of energy transfer without conductors with an efficiency of more than 40%. The technology is called WiTricity.

The principle of operation of technology for energy transfer without wires

The principle of operation of technology for energy transfer without wires "WiTricity"

Wireless Charger

Wireless Charger for WiTricity Mobile Phone

According to the authors of the invention, this is not a “pure” resonance of the connected circuits and is not Tesla Transformer, with inductive coupling. The radius of energy transfer today is a little more than two meters, in the future - up to 5-7 meters.

Similar technologies are feverishly developed by other firms: Intel has demonstrated its technology WREL with energy transfer efficiency up to 75%. In 2009, Sony demonstrated the operation of a television without a network connection.

Technology demonstration WiTricity:

Intel WREL Wireless Technology Demonstration

Intel WREL Wireless Technology Demonstration:

Only one circumstance is alarming: regardless of the transmission method and technical tricks, the energy density and field strength in the rooms should be high enough to power devices with a power of several tens of watts.

According to the developers themselves, information on the biological effects on humans of such systems is not yet available. Given the recent appearance, and a different approach to the implementation of energy transmission devices, such studies are yet to come, and the results will not appear soon. And we can judge their negative impact only indirectly. Something again will disappear from our homes, such as cockroaches.

Without trying to delve into the intricacies of energy transfer technologies, we can say that at the level of distances up to 10 meters in the near future, wireless energy transfer devices will become a reality. You can watch TV, use a computer and charge mobile devices without worrying about the presence of cords and sockets.

But we started with transmission problems not of tens and hundreds of watts, but of more serious capacities. Unfortunately today The best achievement in this direction is the pilot transmission of 30 kilowatts of power over a distance of 2 kilometers (1 mile). This event happened back in 1975 and since then no serious progress has been made. Therefore, in the coming decades, one should not expect a breakthrough in the field of wireless energy transmission. Science fiction can sleep so far.

See also at bgv.electricianexp.com:

  • Qi Electronic Power Wireless Standard
  • Wi-Fi Power Transmission Technology
  • Method of electromagnetic induction in wireless energy transfer
  • Wireless power transmission methods
  • Resonant method of wireless transmission of electric energy by Nikola Tesla

  •  
     
    Comments:

    # 1 wrote: Philip | [quote]

     
     

    I like it. I didn’t know that real-life wireless power transmission technologies already existed. I thought before that it was purely fantastic.

     
    Comments:

    # 2 wrote: Shurochka | [quote]

     
     

    And I liked it. It seems unrealistic that wireless power transmission already exists.
    Fiction is becoming a reality. It’s even hard to imagine what awaits us next.

     
    Comments:

    # 3 wrote: egor | [quote]

     
     

    wow! didn't know how interesting :-)

     
    Comments:

    # 4 wrote: HP Veer | [quote]

     
     

    I bought an HP Veer phone for my wife - so he has a magnetic / inductive charge, put the phone on the bandwagon - he is charging - no cords for the phone.
    But of course the distance in millimeters, a meter or two would be much more convenient))

     
    Comments:

    # 5 wrote: | [quote]

     
     
    Comments:

    # 6 wrote: | [quote]

     
     

    Vasily Anatolyevich, is mistaken. This method of energy transfer was implemented almost 140 years ago by the Italian physicist Carlo Matteuchi and it was with the help of plane-spiral coils. The source of energy was first the discharge of a Leyden can, and then the Rumkorf coil.

    What is described in the Russian edition of the Full course of physics edited by prof. Gano. I can provide both the original and the page scan.

     
    Comments:

    # 7 wrote: Gray | [quote]

     
     

    Today, the idea is realized through the transfer of energy due to the physical phenomena of electromagnetism that are derivatives or related. The transfer of energy by high-frequency currents, through magnetism, is deadly to humans and will in every way be hidden in the advancement of new technologies. Any waves that carry a fraction of energy are a material object, and you can just as well shoot a pistol, converting the kinetic energy of a bullet into what you need. Leveling the detrimental effects of "transmission paths" is the main task of wireless energy, and the transmission itself is secondary ...

     
    Comments:

    # 8 wrote: Michael | [quote]

     
     

    I agree with Sery, there are enough microwaves that sound full although we don’t feel it, power lines are also very harmful. Living next to them in the vicinity of 50 meters, you can easily bald. Everything radiates. Well, induction hobs are certainly less harmful, since they affect metal. I don’t see anything good in the technology of mobile phone charges. It is much more convenient to have charging with a shared battery. This and the outlet is not needed. As for cities, it seems to me that the best solution is used in Germany ... There, everyone installs a small power station, windmills or solar panels in their area. All this is reserved by batteries in the basement for example. And if you are not at home or you do not use a lot of electricity, then the excess charges the reserves, and the excess goes into the general network. People also pay extra for this. As a result, we get many advantages, it is a balanced power supply network in which there are no large overloads, transmission losses of electronic are reduced. The owner pays less and consumes less. And this is in contrast to nuclear power plants when a huge amount of energy is generated at one point that needs to be distributed evenly and lose a lot. And the waste is minimal.

     
    Comments:

    # 9 wrote: | [quote]

     
     

    Electromagnetic smog is dangerous for bees, birds, animals, plants, humans - this radiation causes mutations, portable fuel-free generators are the future.

     
    Comments:

    # 10 wrote: | [quote]

     
     

    Everything that is described in the article, and in the comments, is familiar to me. I carefully follow the development of technology, and try not to miss a single novelty. There are own ideas, it’s just a pity that I’m deprived of the opportunity to test them in practice. For example, such an idea. All of us have watched lightning more than once, and we know that huge currents of hundreds of thousands, or even millions of amperes, flow in the air in the channel of a spark discharge. This means that air under special conditions is able to pass through it a huge power of electricity. To do this, you just need to create an ionized channel in the air. And to create it, with today's development of technology, is not as hard as it seems. To do this, use a laser beam operating in the ultraviolet or even in the x-ray range of radiation, i.e. a laser beam passing through air should create an ionized channel. Of course, transferring energy from outer space to Earth in this way will not work, but replacing wired power lines - why not?

    Yes, here's another thing I want to add. As for electromagnetic smog, a person seems to be able to adapt to anything.We are not cockroaches, we live in the midst of radiation, and we wanted to chew on everything. Personally, I am, in this respect, a living example. Now I am 67 years old, and almost all my working experience in the USSR I dealt with microwave equipment, and the power, at times, was very significant (up to 40 kW per pulse). He worked in a screen-camera (not at all to protect someone from radiation, but to prevent the enemies from knowing what frequencies we are working on). By the way, in the screen camera we received much more radiation than if we were working in open space. And despite all this, I didn’t even bald.

     
    Comments:

    # 11 wrote: | [quote]

     
     

    It is possible to transmit energy without wires by any wave capable of propagating in space - sound, light, magnetic, with subsequent inverse transformation into electric current.

     
    Comments:

    # 12 wrote: Yuri | [quote]

     
     

    By itself, the electromagnetic field is not very suitable for transferring large charges over long distances without the corresponding "conductor" (cable, laser beam, etc.). Collecting the energy of the sun and converting it into electricity is also not easy. Efficiency in all known cases is not very high, which means that the consumer will pay both for the electric energy itself and for its loss, which makes up a significant part. It is most efficient to convert the energy of a non-electromagnetic field (a field with a higher degree of ordering) into electromagnetic. In this case, the transmission costs will decrease by an order of magnitude and, accordingly, the cost of kW will fall.