Neat stuff - Wireless Power Transfer

[JSWrightOC]

Has anybody checked this out?

 

[bj]

This looks like something else that came out several months ago, whose name escapes me. Basically it was a pad with hundreds of little contacts all over it. When you placed a device on it, the electonic module built into the device would make contact with some of the points on the pad. The device would identify itself and its power requirements, and the pad would route the appropriate power to those nodes. At first I thought is was some type of inductive device, but futher reading revealed the real deal.

It's one of those things that's kind of neat, if it becomes a standard and manufacturers build their products with it in mind. Just being able to drop your pda, digicam, or whatever on the mat and have it charged up would be very convenient.

-brian

 

[B@rt]

Looks like a new implementation of inductive charging. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
Interesting... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[JSWrightOC]

bj:

The site specifically says it's inductive...so I doubt it is contact based.

Seems to me this would be a good way to keep flashlights charged up and handy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

There have been a lot of proposed inductive charging schemes, though I always thought they were quite inefficient. Not to mention certain radiation risks, EMI, and what about magnetic storage media? Wouldn't this potentially erase a hard drive contained in an MP3 player, for instance?

 

[Quickbeam]

That is very slick... very intuitive. No more messing around with temperamental connectors, etc.

 

[FreeBSDboy]

I saw an article on this in Pop Sci I think. There are two competing camps (go figure). One is the inductive charging, the other has the small contacts as stated before. Who knows which one will come out on top.

 

[Saaby]

Inductive is great for stuff like this. I also saw the one with tons of little contacts, that's called Conductive by the way. What's conductive good for? EVs--which are currently using Inductive /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Minjin]

Bah, Tesla invented wireless transmission of power 100 years ago... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

http://www.frank.germano.com/tunguska.htm


Mark

 

[FreeBSDboy]

I had a battery powered toothbrush that had an inductive charger in the base. I should find it and take it apart to see if it could be used to make an inductively charged flashlight.

 

[zmoz]

I haven't got the slightest idea how that thing works, but it can't be something that causes any measureable magnetism. If it's designed for small electronic devices, they are all extremely magneticly sensitive, not just hard drives.

 

[star882]

http://www.splashpower.com/prod5.asp
"Q. Will it damage my credit card, floppy disks or other magnetic data?

A. No. Our technology is designed to preserve the integrity of magnetic data stored on credit cards and other common storage media."

 

[Albany Tom]

The inductive thing is simple. Think of it as a transformer that you can take apart, because that's what it is. One set of winding in the base, a piece of metal sticking up (usually), and another set of windings in the gizmo to be charged.

A changing electrical current through a wire creates a changing magnetic field, and vice-versa. You couple the magnetic fields, and you transfer electrical power from one place to another. It's a physics thing. You can change the frequency of the field, and the shape of the field, but you need the same amount of magnetic energy as electrical energy...also a physics thing.

You can also transmit electrical energy electrostatically, which would be having a capacitor that you could take apart.

Either way, a neat thing.

 

[FreeBSDboy]

The media themselves does not conduct electricity, so it won't induct anything from the field. And the field probably isn't strong enough to erase them on it's own either.

However, I'd be awfully nervous about putting a microdrive down on that thing. Lots of little metal wires and harddrive heads to get messed with...

 

[JSWrightOC]

I would be afraid to put anything other than what's designed and certified to place on it. I can't imagine the AC magnetic field being good for anything...electronic. If it has a conductor, a voltage potential will be generated in it.