Delivering electricity wirelessly

[kelvinlym]

I was talking to my friend the other day and we somehow stumbled upon this topic: "Delivering electricity without wires/cables"

I suggested to him that since waves are a medium of transfering energy from point A to point B, and since energy can neither be destroyed nor created, and since electrical energy IS a form of energy, why can't we transmit electricity through radio or electromagnetic waves?

The trick is of course in the device that converts the energy in the waves into electricity and vice versa.

My friend said that this wouldn't happen and even if it does, energy companies will not profit as people can steal electricity easily.

And just a few minutes ago I stumbled upon an article from the Star
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/3/10/technology/7507614&sec=technology
"universal wireless charging"

I wonder if this have to do with my idea?

Nikolai Tesla also did an experiment on transmitting electricity over wide distances without cables. He was killed in an accident because it was reported that he was using Ultra High Voltage to transmit electricity, or was he murdered by evil corporations out to protect their interests?

Well, what do you guys think??

[kelvinlym]

I was talking to my friend the other day and we somehow stumbled upon this topic: "Delivering electricity without wires/cables"

I suggested to him that since waves are a medium of transfering energy from point A to point B, and since energy can neither be destroyed nor created, and since electrical energy IS a form of energy, why can't we transmit electricity through radio or electromagnetic waves?

The trick is of course in the device that converts the energy in the waves into electricity and vice versa.

My friend said that this wouldn't happen and even if it does, energy companies will not profit as people can steal electricity easily.

And just a few minutes ago I stumbled upon an article from the Star
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/3/10/technology/7507614&sec=technology
"universal wireless charging"

I wonder if this have to do with my idea?

Nikolai Tesla also did an experiment on transmitting electricity over wide distances without cables. He was killed in an accident because it was reported that he was using Ultra High Voltage to transmit electricity, or was he murdered by evil corporations out to protect their interests?

Well, what do you guys think??

[littlebigone]

if you're talking about converting waves into electricity then I think it already exists. it's called solar power :p

But I don't know how it measures up against conventional "wired" electricity

[littlebigone]

if you're talking about converting waves into electricity then I think it already exists. it's called solar power :p

But I don't know how it measures up against conventional "wired" electricity

[masterof_none]

Not an expert in the energy field, but, isn't it solar power derived from sun/light?

I would like to make an analogy of wireless broadband with Kelvin's wireless electricity.

When we go to Starbucks, we can pay a certain amount of fee to T-Mobile to get access to the Internet.

So, let's say company X offers such service where you can get the electricity wirelessly , and let's assume that Starbucks powered by this wireless electric. And this company X charge the service just like how T-Moblie charge you with the wireless internet.

Company X need to set up a small "power station" at each Starbucks, analogous to the WiFi hotspot. And, charge a certain amount of fee to users who want to power their laptop using this wireless electric, so that users don't have to bring along their power adaptor).

Do you think this is possible?..I think it is. At least at the small scale.
And I think, this wireless electric, even it is exist, may not powered huge factories or replacing the current means of distributing electric.
But it could serve as an alternative way to power your small devices such as laptop, cell-phone, pagers, etc.
Things that's "mobile".

[masterof_none]

Not an expert in the energy field, but, isn't it solar power derived from sun/light?

I would like to make an analogy of wireless broadband with Kelvin's wireless electricity.

When we go to Starbucks, we can pay a certain amount of fee to T-Mobile to get access to the Internet.

So, let's say company X offers such service where you can get the electricity wirelessly , and let's assume that Starbucks powered by this wireless electric. And this company X charge the service just like how T-Moblie charge you with the wireless internet.

Company X need to set up a small "power station" at each Starbucks, analogous to the WiFi hotspot. And, charge a certain amount of fee to users who want to power their laptop using this wireless electric, so that users don't have to bring along their power adaptor).

Do you think this is possible?..I think it is. At least at the small scale.
And I think, this wireless electric, even it is exist, may not powered huge factories or replacing the current means of distributing electric.
But it could serve as an alternative way to power your small devices such as laptop, cell-phone, pagers, etc.
Things that's "mobile".

[littlebigone]

sun light is wave (any light for that matter). If you're talking about converting energy to waves then receiving the waves then converting it into energy, I think the mechanism would be similar to that of a solar panel.

Anyway, I think that the problem has been probably thought of before but I think that one of the major drawbacks is that it would take more energy to produce such a wave than it would carry in the end. And then to convert this wave back into electricity, i think even more energy would be lost.

I think it can be done, but not efficiently enough to be a supplied to entire cities and all.

This is my amatuer hunch though.

[littlebigone]

sun light is wave (any light for that matter). If you're talking about converting energy to waves then receiving the waves then converting it into energy, I think the mechanism would be similar to that of a solar panel.

Anyway, I think that the problem has been probably thought of before but I think that one of the major drawbacks is that it would take more energy to produce such a wave than it would carry in the end. And then to convert this wave back into electricity, i think even more energy would be lost.

I think it can be done, but not efficiently enough to be a supplied to entire cities and all.

This is my amatuer hunch though.

[__earth]

sun light is wave (any light for that matter). If you're talking about converting energy to waves then receiving the waves then converting it into energy, I think the mechanism would be similar to that of a solar panel.

Anyway, I think that the problem has been probably thought of before but I think that one of the major drawbacks is that it would take more energy to produce such a wave than it would carry in the end. And then to convert this wave back into electricity, i think even more energy would be lost.
I think it can be done, but not efficiently enough to be a supplied to entire cities and all.

This is my amatuer hunch though.

It's true though, in the solar cell case. I've worked with a solar car team, and especially on the car upper layer (ie solar panel) and right now, typically, a solar cell has 20 - 29% efficiency of converting ray to energy.

I've read somewhere, the latest development has brought the efficiency figure to 31%. It has a long way to go when compared to internal combustion efficiency. Still, a bright future.

About wireless electric, it's not really sending electricity through the wave. To my understanding, it's more of sending a signal to a some receptor to charge a device.

[__earth]

sun light is wave (any light for that matter). If you're talking about converting energy to waves then receiving the waves then converting it into energy, I think the mechanism would be similar to that of a solar panel.

Anyway, I think that the problem has been probably thought of before but I think that one of the major drawbacks is that it would take more energy to produce such a wave than it would carry in the end. And then to convert this wave back into electricity, i think even more energy would be lost.
I think it can be done, but not efficiently enough to be a supplied to entire cities and all.

This is my amatuer hunch though.

It's true though, in the solar cell case. I've worked with a solar car team, and especially on the car upper layer (ie solar panel) and right now, typically, a solar cell has 20 - 29% efficiency of converting ray to energy.

I've read somewhere, the latest development has brought the efficiency figure to 31%. It has a long way to go when compared to internal combustion efficiency. Still, a bright future.

About wireless electric, it's not really sending electricity through the wave. To my understanding, it's more of sending a signal to a some receptor to charge a device.

[dinna_g]

I'm no energy person but I'm currently taking a class about X-Ray and diffraction so I learn a little bit about wave transmission and what not. As far as I'm concern, transmission of energy through air will cause a lot of scattering and hence, lots of energy lost. It is extremely hard for you to transfer an enormous amount of energy from one place to the other without any energy dissipated as heat. If you think about it, even the current technology we are using, we lost some amount of energy due to transfer.

About Tesla, I think he was killed because of the electricity transmission. Curie died because she got cancer from working too much with radioactive. Back then, they don't really know the harm of all this "new" exploration. So let's not believe in grapevine, shall we? Anyways, I do agree, electricity transmission through air is definitely impossible! They are extremely dangerous and you'll never know what you gonna get..

Regarding solar cells, if I'm not mistaken, the efficiency is just about 30-40% and it is not consistent. That is why is not use 100% in the world. Oh yea, for those interested in energy production. The latest technology is fuel cell and Siemens had built a couple of fuel cell plants, if I'm not mistaken, one in the US and one in Europe.

Good news for __earth, fuel cell will reduce the "undesired" gases e.g. NOx, SOx emission by a huge amount.

Cheers!

[dinna_g]

I'm no energy person but I'm currently taking a class about X-Ray and diffraction so I learn a little bit about wave transmission and what not. As far as I'm concern, transmission of energy through air will cause a lot of scattering and hence, lots of energy lost. It is extremely hard for you to transfer an enormous amount of energy from one place to the other without any energy dissipated as heat. If you think about it, even the current technology we are using, we lost some amount of energy due to transfer.

About Tesla, I think he was killed because of the electricity transmission. Curie died because she got cancer from working too much with radioactive. Back then, they don't really know the harm of all this "new" exploration. So let's not believe in grapevine, shall we? Anyways, I do agree, electricity transmission through air is definitely impossible! They are extremely dangerous and you'll never know what you gonna get..

Regarding solar cells, if I'm not mistaken, the efficiency is just about 30-40% and it is not consistent. That is why is not use 100% in the world. Oh yea, for those interested in energy production. The latest technology is fuel cell and Siemens had built a couple of fuel cell plants, if I'm not mistaken, one in the US and one in Europe.

Good news for __earth, fuel cell will reduce the "undesired" gases e.g. NOx, SOx emission by a huge amount.

Cheers!