Powercast looking to bring wireless power to reality
By Darren Murph 
posted Mar 30th 2007 4:47PM
posted Mar 30th 2007 4:47PM
We know, energy without wires has always seemed like one of those novel concepts that sounds terrific in theory, but remains a tad difficult to imagine hitting the commercial scene for some time to come. Apparently, all that is about to become nonsense, as a Pennsylvania-based startup is set to capture the wireless-loving hearts of, um, everyone when it tackles contactless power products. Powercast has already "signed nondisclosure agreements to develop products with more than 100 companies (Philips, for instance), including major manufacturers of cellphones, MP3 players, automotive parts, temperature sensors, hearing aids, and medical implants." The firm's radio-wave-receiving miracle device trumps existing attempts by "adjusting to variations in load and field strength while maintaining a constant DC voltage," essentially ensuring that only low wattages (read: the stuff that garners FCC admiration) are flung around. The system basically consists of two parts -- a wall-plug transmitter and a "dime-sized receiver" that handles the real magic -- and energy is instantly transmitted whenever that disc comes within a yard or so of its tag-team partner. Incredibly, the receiver only costs "about $5" to produce, yet the outfit has already secured upwards of $10 million in private funding, which translates into one less American that desperately needs to win the lottery. Get ready folks, if all goes well, Powercast will be shipping "many millions of units" by the end of 2008 -- and maybe even sooner.[Via TWW]
Oh hell yes. But I wish it were more than a yard.
Now that's just plain cool. Lets hope it doesnt cause cancer.
Sounds good, but this can't be good for our health? Can it? What are the long-term ramifications? Is it safe??
The receiver costs 'about' $5. What about the power adapter / transmitter?
(I suspect that this isn't going to be cheap enough for mainstream products - at least those in the under $200 range - for a long, LONG time)
I'd have to disagree. It would defeat the whole point of the technology if these things couldn't be easily afforded. All the magic and the work takes place in the receiver, not the transmitter. So if they have the receiver down to $5 per, I couldn't see the transmitter costing much more.
So we're talking about a power solution that is an incremental $7 or $8, right? In my experience (developing products) that's a HUGE amount, especially when it comes to the BOM of a consumer device selling for $100 to $200.
The key question is ... would a customer be willing to pay an extra $30 to $50 to get a product that never needs to be plugged into a recharger?
I'm not so sure ...
"wireless electricity"? Is this a early April Fool's joke?
"wireless electricity"? Is this a early April Fool's joke?
it doesn't sound safe to me
although I would love to have a cordless phone without having to charge whenever i got a call.
POWERCAST & BLUETOOTH, perfect together!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla
Please, dear God of Gadgets, let this be true, safe and soon.
Add another .7 to the efficiency chain. Aren't we supposed to be conserving power?
I was thinking the same thing...isn't only a very small fraction of the energy used by this actually going to go into charging my devices? Plus, I don't really think I need more radiation going through my body.
All of that aside, this is actually very cool.
I'd be all for this, and will take it however it comes, but a range of three feet isn't enough. They need to make the range ten feet at least, and preferably fifteen.
You guys... the wonderful Genius (Tesla) who brought us AC electricity was remotely powering and controling a miniture submarine back before World War 1. This isn't new, just that someone picked it up and is trying to make it really work at home. Still... I like the idea and hope this works out.
wait a minute... what about electric toothbrushes? mine charges just a few cm away from touching the base plate (its a Braun, and its 5 years old!) i opened it once and there was a copper coil inside, so it must not be too complicated
once again...your toothbrush and powercast use two completely methods of transmitting and receiving power
They say 70% of the energy is captured and converted. That's not bad at all for starters. Over time, this technology will only get more efficient. I wouldn't doubt that eventually, they'll figure out how to capture close to all of it, if not all of it.
As far as radiation is concerned, they say that the levels transmitted are safe. Besides, most people have no clue how much radiation their bodies already absorb or filter with all the technology we already have and use. Better get used to it, because it's not going to stop.
Yes, a lot of us are aware of Tesla (genius, indeed) and his efforts and accomplishments, but now it appears this is all becoming practical, and despite Tesla's work, it still doesn't take away from the fact that Powercast's efforts are nothing short of fantastic.
Theories and lab demonstrations are great, but when all that becomes practical and put into many things we all use, THAT'S when it truly becomes worthy of praise. Not long now (hopefully, anyway).
Why do you people think this is a joke? It's not really all that much different then Wireless Internet, really. Radiowaves are energy, how does it not make sense that they can be then converted back into electricity?
Will it cause health problems? No, unless you're one of those people that thinks cell phones, FM radio, and WiFi are the bane of life...
There is no way this method of power transmission is 70% efficient at a yard away. The transmitter is blasting radio frequency radiation out in all directions. Think of a 360 degree sphere with a radius of one yard. How much of the area of that sphere is taken up by the 1 cm (or whatever) disc that actually captures the radiation inside a device. They must mean that the disc is 70% efficient at converting the radiation that *it* receives, which is, what, 1 / (4/3 pi r ^ 3), or about 0.000005 of the original energy.
Now if you get closer than a yard, your efficiency will increase with the cube of your distance, but you can't change the fundamental laws of physics here.
Everything causes cancer.
But this will probably just probably cause radiation, and apart from the cancer (which isn't that bad) we'll just get mutated cells and such. Nothing too harmful.
--
But that's cool. Though 1 yard doesn't really help much but get rid of all the wire clutter, which is still good but I'd rather be completely mobile, not having to carry plugs with me when I move around the house.
Hopefully soon there will be a car adaptation and some sort of power station for buildings (hell yeah, more cancer!)
BTW, This article DOES say that this has a "dime-sized receiver", so it's highly unlikey that this wlll be hard to implement in gadgets, machines, vehicles, ETC.
Man I hope this isn't a joke and that it's safe.
Even if this technology can only go a few feet - that would do it for me (for now, at least). One for my gadgets on the side table, one on the desk for my computer + peripherals.
To all the people commenting about cancer, please research the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, maybe you'll learn something...
As I keep thinking more and more about this technology, I can NOT wait for all of my devices to take advantage of it. I can't stand cords and can't wait to cut them for good.
I would file this technology under "Revolutionary". Because over time, especially considering how devices become increasingly efficient (less power hungry) and how this technology will integrate into more and more of them, it's exciting to think how it'll drastically change peoples' lives.
Wireless power. 'Who'da thunk it?' A big thanks to you, Powercast.
It'll be great one day to just go and sit down in a coffee shop, and everything on you (cell phone, laptop, PMP) is all charging on its own...
http://www.powercastco.com/
check it out...since rf waves are just standard radio waves, and the device draws power from rf waves...then wont the device be, in addition to using the transmitted radio waves, using ambient radio waves and thereby cleaning the air around? besides, they said the transmitter only broadcasts the lowest signal possible and with the amount of radio waves flying around as it is...it wont be any more harmful than what is out there right now
I take it none of you have ever read or heard of teslas work on transmiting
electricity over long distances, all his papers and equipment were confiscated by the authorities,american that is just after the turn of this century. he had great success and the military were very interested.
How do you think those cordless headphones get charged when you stick them on their cradle, this idea is taking the magnetic resonance theory 1 step or maybe 10 further, nothing realy far out about it, as for the cancer, i would be more concerned with the millions of tons of crap falling on our heads every day so we can have cheap crappy holidays. regards.
well keep in mind that as time goes on...the price of technology drops...so it may be 5 bucks now, but down the road it could be like 1-2 bucks
Wireless power, great now the robots can really rise up against us.
"I for one welcome our new wiressly powered, self charging robotic overlords"
I forgot this site is filled with Apple haters. Why ya gotta be like dat? The iPhone will have Inductive wireless power. Again, they lead and others follow.
Not very new. My Oral-B toothbrush has done this for two years.
wow...your toothbrush and powercast use two very different technologies...look it up
We interviewed these guys on our podcast.
Take a listen: http://mca.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=178325
Here is a link with a little more discussion about how such a system could work (no idea if this is the same technology, but it shows some possibilities) - http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/wireless.html
april fools joke fore sure!
Just think if this worked in the range of bluetooth.
Homes, autos and business oh my?
This is a fake business. Elementary physics: 900MHz radio waves don´t bounce on walls, they go through or are absorbed, in any case lost forever; frequency do not change when reflected, unless the surface is moving; there is not a word about Powercast or Mr.Govi Rao at Philips site.
its not an april fools joke!!! they have a website www.powercastco.com
it turns out that they won a best of cnet award at CES this year
Hey, you know what this would be great for? Toothbrushes!
I think Tesla would have approved that!
Thanks for the article. I have collected some info on how the wireless power works, both the one by Powercast and the one suggested by the MIT guys. You find more details here
Wireless Power
I wouldn't worry about safety. The human body has been absorbing ridiculous amounts of radiation for it's entire history. We should be fine unless the device is powered by an open uranium core
this + wifi + cellphone + bluetooth + television + microwave will most certainly kill you. They only have to test and prove safe each separately. it's the combination that is deadly. don't support this technology. we need less radiation, not more. just plug in your device and be happy you can still bend over to do it.