Sony’s wireless electricity offering

posted Oct 3rd 2009 12:00pm by Mike Szczys
filed under: video hacks, wireless hacks

sony_wireless_power

In August we covered a wireless electricity presentation from the TED conference. Now Sony has put out a press release on their wireless flat panel television prototype. The device is capable of operating without audio, video, or power cables connected to it. This is possible at distances up to 50cm at efficiencies as high as 80%.

As was talked about in the comments of the other article, the efficiency compared to that of a cable doesn’t blow our socks off. But this does show mainstream development of this technology. We hope to see advances in both efficiency and distance. We also look forward to that small black box (which we presume facilitates the energy transfer) being integrated into the TV’s body.

[via Gizmodo]

Comments [43]

tagged: magnetic resonance, prototype, sony, wireless electricity

Reader Comments

80% is awsome for wireless efficiency but to compare it to wired is like comparing the sun to a tanning lamp. Considering all the chips involved, bravo.

Posted at 12:31 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by hrpuffnstuff

it has begun. the market is finally bringing out tesla’s wireless transmission of energy from the safe. hopefully they bring out more of his great patents.

Posted at 12:37 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by Doom2099

The remaining 20% goes to warming the snack you are holding in your hands.
This is the couch potato monthly gadget of the month winner for Oct/09.

Posted at 12:37 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by bob

Anyone see Sony zeplings in the near future….

Posted at 12:41 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by shadow

Am I the only one who thinks wireless power for a TV is stupid? I much rather have wires for signal and power on something like a TV that you setup and you don’t disconnect for months or years. We already are bombarding our bodies with enough radiation as it is.

Posted at 12:49 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by LukeS

@LukeS:

Totally agree with you. I feel the same for Wi-Fi as well. If it’s not going to move, why does it need to be wireless?

Posted at 12:58 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by Mr Dan

@LukeS:

I agree with you, wires for tv’s are not a huge deal. this kind of tech is really cool though. Mainly for dealing with devices with batteries. I don’t know about the radiation stuff, but it would be pretty nice to be able to sit in a coffee shop and not worry about finding a place with a outlet to use my laptop.

Posted at 1:00 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by jjrh

well how about laptops you need wifi for those and all the other devices i agree with the not needing telavision for that but u do need wifi

Posted at 1:07 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by roy

since theres Lan over mains suply it wouldnt be a stretch to get the wireless power to double as info carrying, whether its for running a tv and its channels, or updating things on your mobile when u put it down to charge, im sure you lot could come up with better use’s

Posted at 1:11 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by psser_by

^LOL

Posted at 1:52 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by Hitek146

other than efficiency, why have wires?

also, the electric fields around cross-country high-voltage cables (and the ones from cellphones and crap) have been proven to have negligible effects on humans. I somehow doubt this is worse. If you think otherwise, feel free to cite it :p

Posted at 2:12 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by nave.notnilc

@nave.notnlic: Efficiency is very important, and more so now that the world’s population is growing more and more energy hungry, and fusion power is still far far away.

Also, not saying this is bad or anything, but this is not the same as the “electric fields” in cross-country HV lines. Different frequencies have different effects.

And I totally agree with those who say wireless power is completely pointless on things that will not be moving around.

This has the potential to be pretty good with electric cars though. Just park and your car will charge itself :-D

Posted at 2:55 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by Whoever

in the link they say:
>at an efficiency of approximately 80%, >approximately 60% including rectifier

so thats 60% eff!

more heat for the snack…

Posted at 3:09 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by jan

solving problem that doesn’t exist. Wireless TV ?! it wont be moved around and if it will then more than 1 meter

Posted at 4:05 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by therian

while many say the distance of a no moving electronic (tv) doesnt need wireless, there are some homes where the plug may not be a good distance to use, and then you need extension cords, such, there are many other uses for this, charge phone using your pc without wires, never loosing your adaptor, cos you don need one anymore. i see sonys logic is putting this tech into something which is the most common to a home, a TV, almost every room in alot of homes has a TV now i have 5 in my house alone and its just a 3 bedroomed home

Posted at 5:19 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by Linkinworm

I think this is supposed to be more about the core technology, and not that its powering a TV: The TV is just something most people are familiar with, and I’d say a pretty good thing to test this with.

Posted at 9:53 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by sj

“here are many other uses for this, charge phone using your pc without wires, never loosing your adaptor, cos you don need one anymore.”

But with this wireless technology you basically carrying adapter all the time, it become build in, bulkier phone bulkier laptop for such questionable advantage.

Posted at 11:58 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by therian

Could be that this is once again aimed at the attractiveness of products. I mean, everybody hates wires right? Mainly with computers all you have to do is take a glance down the back of the desk and you just sigh at the tangle cables for all the crap you use.

Posted at 1:44 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Occideo

Can I put a chicken on the lower black thing and have it cooked by the time my film is finished?

Actually, what happens if something’s put inbetween the transmitter and receiver?

How about a standard for charging portable devices using induction, and then specially made coffee tables, desks and the like with built in inductive chargers. No need to carry your charger with you then because it’d be as normal and common as a lightbulb in a room. Charge all your portable items by simply putting them down on the table.

Posted at 1:45 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by James

Wait. If the box on the bottom is transmitting the power, then how can that be integrated into the tv? Yay! We’ve got wireless power for the 0.3 mm between the box in the tv and the receiver in the tv… yeah.

Posted at 2:17 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Dom

Wait… now I get it… (Why don’t I ever think before commenting.)

Posted at 2:18 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Dom

“This is possible at distances up to 50cm at efficiencies as high as 80%.”

Yes! Screw the Kyoto Protocol! What we really need is something that does a job that can already be done 100% efficiently and cheaply, but for more cost and more waste…

never mind people complaining about leaving the TV on standby. Having it lose >20% of it’s power before it even *gets to the TV* is a pretty terrible innovation. At least you won’t need a $5 extension cable.

Posted at 3:51 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Howie

why? what is the possible benefit of this?
A small rectangle on a coffee table where inductive power is available for phone, remote control and mp3 player charging would be good, but powering static home devices – why?

Posted at 4:08 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by alex

… and why not build the power receiver into the TV base? “It’s wireless power!” And then you see the 2 wires coming from the power receiver, going to the TV. At least they should have stacked the TV directly on top of the receiver for the photo op. Also, agree, it’s a static appliance so, what a ridiculous idea. Make it smaller, give it a sensor so it knows to power down and recharge your portables (MP3 player, phone, PDA, MID… ooo, crunchpad!) on the thing. Also, a lower-frequency AC magnetic field won’t affect us much if at all. I’m “sure” they did their homework to determine it would have no effect. A big corporation like Sony would [i]never[/i] put something harmful in our homes, would they?

Posted at 6:11 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by PocketBrain

If ac magnetic fields were going to hurt you, you’re screwed anyway. They are already everywhere anyway. All appliances emit AC electromagnetic waves, all active wires in your walls do the same. Also Wasteful. Alex said its a static home device anyway. Plus you have to move the base to keep up with TV if you move it. Redundant. Rechargeable tooth brushes are cooler, with they’re inductance charging.

Posted at 7:41 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Mic

@Doom2099 Tooth brushes have used that idea fo eva yall.

Posted at 7:43 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Mic

Just as a thought…

It seems the technology to inductively charge devices is already for sale in the retail world…

http://www.target.com/Powermat-Home-Recharging-Mat-PMM-HO100/dp/B002JCSAWW/ref=sc_iw_/188-3560102-9852616

Posted at 8:12 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Wynter

Tesla would be proud. It is perfectly safe to be between the transmitter and receiver. Your body does not resonate at the same frequency so the energy passes right through you. Radio, TV, Cell signals pass through us every second .This is the same thing but at higher power levels. Back when AM radio was king engineers would play with light bulbs by walking around the ground below the towers with the bulb in hand lit up. Crystal radios work the same way, they have no power source but you can hear the station.

Hackaday should do an article on crystal radios and how they can be made. I made one with a coffee can, toilet paper roll insert and some copper wire. It gets its power from the signal itself.

Inductive chargers are different in design in that they only work at very close range, they are not designed for broadcasting. The reason it is not done more is because it is wasteful and nothing will change that. The path through air will always lose power. For a TV though I could see the benefit of having no cords and just bringing it home and hanging it like a picture without worry about any wiring. RF transmitter can take care of the video signals.

imagine you buy a bluray player that just by taking it out the box and turning it on it works. No need to plug it in or set it up. Those sort of things are very possible. Although at a cost in power use.

Posted at 9:22 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by cgmark

It’s basically this: http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0611063v2
Most of what’s in those boxes are the coils. Also fwiw, the boxes work probably somewhere in the MHz range. Those frequencies are non-ionizing radiation, although these antennas are not meant to be radiative, per se, since this is a near-field effect, not a far-field one that you would traditionally associate with antennas.

On the up side, there was a paper recently about how magnetic fields can impair tumor angiogenesis, so maybe this will help stop cancer!

Posted at 9:23 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by RandomGuy

There are some people who have done this but illegally. If you live near high tension power lines it is possible to place the proper coil of wire under the lines a foot or so off the ground and get power off the lines to run household items.

Power companies are aware of this and there are stiff penalties for anyone doing it.

Posted at 9:31 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by cgmark

@cgmark: this is actually non-radiative, so it’s more like the inductive chargers. Japan is trying radiative power transfer using microwave radiation, sending up a satellite in “5-10 years” with a bunch of solar panels which will beam the energy down to a power station on earth. The problem with true radiative power transfer is that you have to focus the beam or the power will just kind of go everywhere and it will be very inefficient.

…and better yet, imagine integrating this on a chip (at a much higher frequency). No more soldering, just throw a bunch of chips into a suitable magnetic field, and you have a PC. Wireless power and RF for chip to chip communication.

Posted at 9:35 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by RandomGuy

“transfer using microwave radiation, sending up a satellite in “5-10 years” with a bunch of solar panels which will beam the energy down to a power station on earth. The problem with true radiative power transfer is that you have to focus the beam or the power will just kind of go everywhere and it will be very inefficient.”

And suddenly I have a vision of SimCity 2000 lol. They have Microwave Power Stations, and well… sometimes the beam, let’s just say “misses”. It would be like a giant laser cannon hitting the area near the power plant and wiping out everything in it’s path.

Sorry, I could not resist sharing that one, but in reality they are working on this in the real world right now.

Posted at 10:13 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Wynter

That’s a really impressive resonant tank air-core transformer you got there, but please don’t try to patent it; the idea has been around for over 100 years.

Posted at 11:30 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Anonymouse

wireless electricity was project of Nikola Tesla back in the ’20s, if I remember correctly, he wanted to make electricity world wide wireless and free of charge but guys like jp morgan, rockefeller and others just killed the guy and stopped/took Nikolas project.

Posted at 11:36 am on Oct 4th, 2009 by Jim

cool, wireless cancer!

Posted at 9:53 pm on Oct 4th, 2009 by millBot

No, it doesn’t cause cancer.

learn2physics

Posted at 10:06 pm on Oct 4th, 2009 by Anonymouse

maybe not cancer but it is harmful.
lrn2bioligy

In Australia RFID(im not sure of the exact specs) is used to keep track of cattle in droves that are too large to fence.

The CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization) has done research into the effects of this and power lines on said cattle and a much lower mortality rate was noticed in cattle nearby to sources of such radiation. And shorter life span was theorized (being beef cattle this couldn’t be tested)

I cant find the article on the awful site atm, but considering humans have not been near such strong wireless signals for as long I expect to see medical complications in this generation.

Posted at 2:23 am on Oct 5th, 2009 by alvarez

Somehow I don’t paricually want electricity flowing through me…

Posted at 4:42 am on Oct 6th, 2009 by Sammy

This is pretty well explained in a TED speech.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html

Posted at 9:05 pm on Oct 7th, 2009 by Rober

Wow. I should probably read the post before commenting.

Posted at 9:09 pm on Oct 7th, 2009 by Rober

Frankly, this is just a neat party trick to fool investors.

It’s a resonant transformer with an air core. The technology is well known and understood, including the fact that because of the shape of the field, they’re only going to get good efficiency and power transmission when the two coils are on the same axis relative to one another.

That’s to say, if you move that topmost coil an inch to the left, the efficiency starts to suffer and the output power drops because the field is no longer symmetrical on the recieving coil.

The way it works, you simply can’t put the transmitter and the reciever in any arbitrary spot. It has to be almost exactly right, like pointing a satellite dish, which limits the usefulness of the system to few special applications.

Posted at 10:45 am on Oct 9th, 2009 by Einomies

And secondly, because this system uses an alternating magnetic field to transmit the power, any largeish metallic or otherwise sufficiently conductive object nearby will experience eddy currents.

I would guess something as simple as a metal chair frame or an aluminium computer case closeby would start to heat up and sap a significant amount of power from the system, leading to even worse efficiency.

Careful to wear rings and bracelets around this bugger.

Posted at 10:51 am on Oct 9th, 2009 by Einomies

why not put this tech in a electric car and make your parking spot in your garage charge your electric car wireless, thats a little more convenient than a wireless tv

Posted at 9:53 pm on Oct 18th, 2009 by jason

Sony’s wireless electricity offering

Recent Posts

Reader Comments

Leave a Reply

Hacks

Resources

RSS newsfeeds

Most commented on (30 days)

Recent comments