Sneak Peak into the future.....

wireless charging station.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=8105

CHECK IT! i think in a few years, implementation into the rc world would be sweet...

[J57ltr]

It's about time they have been talking about that for almost 10 years now. I first saw an article about it in Design News, it was pretty interesting at the time but I think it would be at least another 10 years before they are powerful enough to charge an RC battery of even the lowest capacity, plus you still gotta to balance and the induction loop would be pretty fragile.

Jeff

[jayjay283]

I'll lick it for a c-note. You all want to know what would happen

[J57ltr]

Not a damn thing. It's basically the primary side of a transformer and the "reciever" is the secondary. It's old tech now, I can't remember who first patened it but I think it was GE. I even saw a comercial for it during a baseball game tonight. I thought it was really cool when I first saw it, but now

A C-note says I can build one with stuff I have around the house.

Jeff

[BrianG]

Yeah, old tech for sure. IIRC, pacemakers are recharged in a similar way, and they have been around for quite some time. Maybe the current generation of pacemakers use the body's natural bioelectrics to power them, I dunno.

With something as general-purpose as this, there must be a substantial amount of losses. In a real transformer, the primary and secondary coils are physically very close together and are magnetically coupled via some type of core. And even then, there are some decent amount of losses. Without a focusing core, the flux goes everywhere being wasted and only a little makes its way to the secondary. Convenient? Yes. Efficient? Probably not.

I also wonder what effect the stray magnetic flux has on other inductive devices?

[J57ltr]

As I recall the losses were substantial, and you had to have the device directly on top of the "charger". The design I saw basically was a coil with a core shaped like a tophat and the "reciever" had one as well. It also mentioned a magnetic detent (When the cores were aligned) so you knew it was in place then it switched to an AC mode for charging.

Jeff

[zeropointbug]

Yeah, pretty cool... these have been out for a few years, but a niche market, quite expensive (although in reality not)

This technology has been around for more than 100 years, Nikola Tesla invented the Tesla Coil and subsequent 'Magnifying Transmitter'... JP Morgon dismantled it after receiving the true intent of the tower (wireless power transmission) and not radio transmission.

I too have done some wireless power experiments... lit a 100watt bulb to roughly 60watt brightness using twin tesla coils. It is amazing.

[zeropointbug]

Oh, and yes, the wireless power transmission here and the type I am talking about are different... one uses simple higher frequency magnetic fields, and the later (Tesla type) uses electro magnetic resonance (or could even be another level beyond our understanding?) and is supposed to be inherently very efficient.

[lutach]

This technology will probably not be in RC for a while. Our little vehicles uses higher current and this technology won't work. I can see it working with super high voltage though. I think Speed Passion holds some alien technology, but the fools at Schumacher who says they work closely with Speed Passion (Sure like Speed Passion makes their ESCs) has failed to provide answers to those who have asked.

Think about it, huge Tesla Coils in a race and a car flips over, would you being a turn marshal have the guts to go and flip the car over?

[BrianG]

Personally, this type of thing is cooler:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/te...pagewanted=all
http://video.gearlive.com/video/arti...ireless-power/

[zeropointbug]

Brian, ya that is pretty cool, I have never seen that before for some reason. It would work for some things, but it just doesn't seem like a solution as you need direct line of sight, and nothing can get in the way of the beam, especially when lasers get more powerful, as they are all the time. Seems like a cool idea for solar array satellites transmitting power back down to earth, as it is much more efficient to do that than have the solar power stations on surface.

[BrianG]

Or similar:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beam-powered_propulsion
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/...m/magbeam.html (Although, I would hate to think what would happen if the receiver "broke down" or something...)


When I was young, I thought it would be "neat" to be able to create miniature black holes and use the gravitational force contained to propel a craft. Of course, this was before I knew it wasn't a "hole" but just a collapsed star.

[What's_nitro?]

Originally Posted by BrianG

When I was young, I thought it would be "neat" to be able to create miniature black holes and use the gravitational force contained to propel a craft. Of course, this was before I knew it wasn't a "hole" but just a collapsed star.

Brian if you figure out a way to focus gravity I'll be your first investor!

[Modding_out]

This is cool! I know it's old technology but if they perfect it we could run our brushless trucks FOREVER by having the receiver on the truck and the transmitter plugged into your car or house current...could you imagine? no batteries

[BP-Revo]

That is sweet, but really expensive.

If your family was really tech savvy you could get one mat and a bunch of the adapter cases to cut cost down. I mean, a regular charger is still like $25 bucks if you buy the actual brand name blackberry one or what not. Hell, for an iPhone (what I have) if I want a simple wall charger (assuming I lost my current one), it's $20 for the cord, and another $20 or $25 for the little adapter that converts a standard 110v wall outlet down to a USB plug.

So if your whole family can use it, you'd pay the $100 for the mat, but would just about break even on the cases.

I mean, if you figure mom and dad's cells, your own cell, sis or bro's cell(s) and applicable iPods (I have an iPhone, but I know plenty of people with a iPod and a cell phone).

It'd be pretty cool to be able to toss your phone on the counter and have it charge when you did that.

My biggest question is if the case still allows you to charge the phone via the original charging solution, or do you have to remove the case - cause some people may have to charge away from home.