Soljacic's theory stands upon the fundamental knowledge that electricity does not necessarily need to be physically connected between two points for an energy exchange to occur (i.e: the coils in electronic transformers that rely on electromagnetic induction to transfer the electricity without actually touching one another). Thus, he believes that with the right technology, this ability to transfer energy "wirelessly" across very short distances can be greatly enhanced to extend that distance potentially indefinitely.
If Soljacic were able to make this become a reality, it could enable us to inhabit harsher regions of the earth, provide electricity to third world countries (via satellite), and even extend our reach into space. In 2007, in fact, Soljacic successfully lit a 60 watt light bulb wirelessly from 7 feet away using magnetic coils. The phenomena has been coined with the term "WiTricity", and is now being extensively researched by companies such as WiTricity Corp. and PowerBeam. In my personal opinion, we may just have a slight revolution on our hands.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/wireless.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=wireless-energy-lights-bulb-from-seven-feet-away
This will be a great science progress in our time.There are several advantages on having this innovation in our lives.They will be reduction of electronic waste, our electricity bills will go down, and we can use our electronic machines every where even in deep forest.
ReplyDeleteI watched a show called Ancient Aliens on the history channel, some individuals speculated that the Egyptians might of been able to transfer energy in a similar way but was lost though time.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds very useful, but it seems to rely on magnetic fields. Won't this be bad for people with pacemakers?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't something like this already exist? I could have sworn I've seen advertisements for things like phone charger bays with no wires connecting to the devices. Maybe they made it better?
ReplyDeleteI did a project on this in high school. We actually made a smaller scale model of Soljacic's two resonating coils. We were able to power a small led light from a distance of a foot. "WiTricity" seems to be at the forefront of wireless electricity and I cannot wait to see what they will do with this in the future.
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