Bring Down The Wires

While typing this post on my laptop, I was frustrated of the wires webbed around me, although they are necessary for conducting electricity which was indeed powering the device. But isn’t it would be fun if we live wirelessly all the time? Isn’t would be great if electricity flows without wires? The answer is yes! It is possible. Thanks to Sir Nikola Tesla! He invented the word ‘Wireless Electricity’.

Talking literally, Wireless Power is the transmission of electrical energy from a power source to an electrical load without interconnecting wires, useful in cases where interconnecting wires are inconvenient, hazardous, or impossible. With wireless power, efficiency is the more significant parameter and is economical as well. Though, the most common form of wireless power transmission is carried out using inductive coupling followed by resonant inductive coupling.  Other methods include electromagnetic radiation in the form of microwaves and lasers.

The working is quite simple: It is a fact that an electric field generate magnetic field and vice versa. So, when an ac current is produced, it generates coupled magnetic and electric fields, having frequencies associated with it. So at a particular frequency, the power is carried out using direct induction followed by resonant magnetic induction. For example, suppose there is a Coil X (as Transmitter) and Coil Y( Receiver), when the transmitter is plugged in, it will transmit electromagnetic waves and the receiver will get induced through mutual induction. And at this stage both have waves resonating or oscillating at same frequency.

This technology has both merits and demerits. The ultimate benefit is the transmission reality and integrity. Also it would be possible to deliver electricity to the under developed areas of the world which lack infrastructure support with lesser transmission and distributional loss. Biological effects associated with the wireless transmission of electricity due to the high frequency microwave signals is the first demerit of this technology. Wireless electricity can only work in a short range as it consists of EM waves.

MIT's work on WiTricity in 2007 demonstrated wireless powering of a 60W light bulb with 40% efficiency at a 2m (7ft) distance using two 60cm-diameter coils. In 2008 Intel reproduced the MIT group's experiment by wirelessly powering a light bulb with 75% efficiency at a shorter distance. Companies like GM, PowerBeam, Nevada Lightning Lab, eCoupled and HaloIPT are sharing their interest over this technology.

Overall Wireless Electricity is a new innovation we all need to welcome it, if it doesn’t give any harm to our health and if it works in long range, the entire world will use this technology there will be have no wires.