D.I.Y. wireless power project unleashes your inner mad scientist
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted May 12th 2009 1:28PM
posted May 12th 2009 1:28PM
Before he was the patron saint of electric cars and GPUs, Nikola Tesla invented the AC motor, the Tesla coil (or, as he called it, the "coil"), and demonstrated that power could be transferred wirelessly. A hundred-plus years later, companies like Solaren Corp are angling to beam electricity down to earth from outer space -- quite possibly solving our energy crisis with science fiction means that would even make ol' Nicky T. look twice. But why should the big companies have all the fun? You too can experiment with wireless power, albeit on a significantly smaller scale, with merely a square wave generator, some coiled wire, a 60 watt bulb, and a few other low priced thingamabobs. Don't believe us? Hit that read link and see for yourself.
[Via Make]
[Via Make]
Practicing for the Touchstone, huh?
That is actually kinda cool. Now I can channel my inner MacGyver
here, take this clip.
It might be better if you, the master of unclipping, take it.
I came up with the AC motor in Physics class when I was about 14 then my teacher told me it had already been invented.
I'm usually not the kind of person to say 'Hey, that's bad for you' but wireless power from space to everywhere on earth sounds a little more intense on humans than radio waves.
Hey, it worked in SimCity.....
just dont raise the peoples taxes to pay for it and youll be fine.
but without taxes you don't have enough money to buy a new stadium.
:-(
Gah! I got a bit of a shock there. Our display names are so similar I thought it said 'KarlW' when skimming. I didn't remember leaving the comment, which was a bit scary.
Anyway, there is no conclusive evidence that radio waves are damaging to people. The only evidence for it seem to be anecdotal. That said, I'm sure residents will want a decisive ruling one way or the other before this thing goes up. They also need to question whether it's possible to build something in space. Having this construction hovering over California uses up space which limits competitors doing the same thing.
The space based power source, as I understand it, is not using electromagnetic induction. Solar collectors convert sunlight to microwaves. The microwaves are send down to a specific location and converted to electric power. They would not be sending power down to everywhere on 'earth' to power 'stuff'.
-KevinC
@ KarlW
Depending on the frequency and power of the radio waves, there is very good evidence that they are bad for people. Just ask that tv dinner you cooked for lunch the other day.
If you spread the microwaves out over a large surface area you can get the same power without having to beam incredibly high strength foucsed waves.
@barry99705
The fact that you think microwaves in your oven and the microwaves being sent as wireless power transmission are at all alike is cute. Take a few classes in electromagnetics first next time. The proposed space-based systems are VERY low power compared to your microwave (as long as you are out of the direct line of site, i.e., don't stand on the receiver dish), largely because they are using phased arrays to very accurately guide the beam.
"Overall, the epidemiologic evidence does not offer any reliable evidence that the ordinary level of exposure of humans within the rectenna area of SPS (0.01 to 1.0 mW/cm2) would cause any harm." http://permanent.com/p-sps-bm.htm
(this is WITHIN the area of the antenna. Anyone a few hundred yards away wouldn't be effected at all, basically).
I wish the general public wasn't so scared of words - "nuclear, microwave, etc" are only dangerous in the wrong context.
tommo: yes, but you want to be able to re-collect as much of that energy as possible. if you send the energy down over an area of 1000 square miles you're going to lose 99.9% of what you send. its much easier and cheaper to build a receiver for a beam that covers maybe a few square meters and then send it out via the existing power grid.
thats pretty cool. gonna try this out.
cool
@KyleW
If you want to really experience something bad for you from "outer space", try staying out in the SUN too much! NOw that is a whole lot more "intense on humans than radio waves"...
Highest form of cancer in the world is skin cancer! Where do you get it? FROM THE SUN!
The transmission of energy back to the planet will be in microwave form - but that was in the article.
As for the topic - coooooool! I am so gunna do this one!
Cheers, mates.
show some stats behind that skin cancer assumption.
one thing that is for sure: Black or dark skinned people don't get
skin cancer because of the melanin in the skin. It's a natural sunscreen.
(yes, i'm dark skinned)
need pre backcover and a mod to this, whohoo!
Please, just keep this quiet from Skynet, at least we would stand a chance if it had to go with an internal power source for its menacing T-800's..
Tesla was indeed a genius. too bad he was so under-appreciated.
I agree. Tesla was sheer brilliance (with a touch of oddness).
Indeed he is! http://sanctuary.wikia.com/wiki/Nikola_Tesla
All it is, is the basic principal of a transformer.
He was indeed, pitty Mr J.P. Morgan, who pulled the plug on this visionary genius.
Most of us use wireless power at least once a week, some every day. RFID works on the same principal to activate the chips.
This is the same thing as our electric toothbrushes and their recharging stands.
everyone uses "wireless power" everyday. Anyone who has ever taken college physics could tell you this. Transformers that convert power from one voltage to another either up or down use "wireless power" The picture could have been greatly improved in performance by placing a piece of iron between the too coils. or wrapping both coils around a hunk of iron.
Yes, but then you lose the whole 'wireless' aspect of it.
Of course, it's just electromagnetic induction, which was explained by Faraday in 1831 (before Tesla was even born). The voltage is induced by a time-varying magnetic field. Tesla simply showed that since AC is a time-varying current, it produces a time-varying magnetic field, which can induce a voltage by Faraday's law.
What's sad is that people will walk away thinking that this is some kind of gee-whiz, new-fangled way of powering devices...it isn't.. inductive electricity has been around for decades! If you own one of those electric tooth brushes...you have inductive charging...if you own a key-card that you wave in front of a panel to get into your office building, you have inductive voltage...Heck! If you own an AM radio, you've used inductive voltage!
Ed
web/gadget guru
You're right. Been around for some time, think about street lights that only turn green when there's actually a car waiting. But there are fancy things to do with it, like powering cars. I don't know where I read it, but someone suggested to put wires in the ground and when cars drive over it they generate electricity. It would take a lot to actually do it, but the idea is pretty cool.
@huth
yeah pretty cool idea except for that whole conservation of energy thing
Like the dude said... this is nothing more than exploit of a transformer... That primary coil must be driving a lot of current since the magnetic flux has to travel to the other medium without a ferro core. But hey, my toothbrush has this tech... nothing new
this is old news but still cool news.
For people looking to try this...the circuit pictured WILL NOT charge your hipster ipod/iphone etc. The best you'll get out of that is a few low voltage LED's or other low current devices. They also don't go through a very thorough explanation of the tuned LC circuit. Anyways...pick up some IGBT's and get some real work done.
This is how people light their house numbers. If there is a utility transformer in the yard, they steal the sinusoidal magnetic field to produce current to run the light on their house numbers.
so.. (in theory)
Could be possible to make a receiver to receive any kind of electromagnetic waves and turn in electricity?
...like turning a fm radio into a generator?
Mmm, I see patent violation.
You know, makes me wonder how "green" this tech is. I mean even with high quality cable there is power / signal loss to some extent. I can't imagine how much power / signal loss there is doing things this way it must be massive. I mean how many amps is he pushing through that large coil just to light that tiny LED on the other end.
On top of it, the item has to be so close to its wireless host that you might as well plug the darn thing in anyways.
Sadly, this technology is HORRIBLY inefficient in transmitting energy.
The space one actually is not like this at all. The space one converts it to microwaves, then uses a special receiver that turns microwaves back into usable electricity.
you could always just stick a 48 inch florescent under some heavy duty power lines.