Electricity of the future

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Electricity of the future

It sounds like science fiction — beams of energy that power your fridge and TV, no cables needed. But researchers in South Africa and abroad are working on the idea, which could change the way the world thinks about electricity distribution.
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No..... It sounds like a journo got duped :D

Wireless electricity is ancient history and is pretty infeasible due to a couple of LAWS OF PHYSICS :p

Google for Tesla Coil if you don't know the details...
 
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Apart from being difficult to implement, can you imagine the kind of radiation exposure...people will be dropping dead of who knows what within a few days!
 
ambo said:
No..... It sounds like a journo got duped :D

Wireless electricity is ancient history is pretty infeasible due to a couple of LAWS OF PHYSICS :p

Google for Tesla Coil if you don't know the details...
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Thanks Ambo, perhaps one needs to drop a tip to the editor/writer to actually do the research before publishing sensationalist articles.
 
Kryon_MC said:
Apart from being difficult to implement, can you imagine the kind of radiation exposure...people will be dropping dead of who knows what within a few days!
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Amen

The "low" wireless communication has evidently inflicted enough damage to human bodies already .. imagine what 220V would do ...

On the upside we would not have to worry about passing corporal punishment by the constitutional court... all it would be needed is to walk the convicted criminals around areas with high density of wireless electricity beam ........... and leave rest to the physics....
 
A big drawback in distributing electricity as an alternating current by power line is that much energy is lost. Gaunt said a practical method of reducing this loss was to switch to high-voltage direct- current lines.
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AFAIK, the Cabora Bassa powerline to SA is implemented as a high-voltage direct-current feed.
 
does anyone here know what the difference is between the normal means and the new way?
 
ambo said:
No..... It sounds like a journo got duped :D

Wireless electricity is ancient history and is pretty infeasible due to a couple of LAWS OF PHYSICS :p

Google for Tesla Coil if you don't know the details...
Click to expand...

See:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129460.stm
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/06/mit_discovery_c.html
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13771-simple-superlens-sharpens-focusing-power.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/08/wireless_electricity/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer

Electricity can be beamed through the air without a pylon in sight
Roger Dobson

SCIENTISTS have successfully applied the technology used in microwave ovens to beam electricity without the need for unsightly pylons and overhead cables.
The power is fired through the air in the form of microwaves and collected in special antennas that reconvert the microwaves into electricity.

A prototype of the wireless power technology has shown the system works and a full-scale version is now being built to make a remote village on the French-governed island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean the world's first microwave-powered community.

According to a report to be published this week, the system is a cheaper way than either solar energy or local generators of supplying remote areas not connected to a grid.

"(Electricity) network distribution is effective at the centre but the costs increase quickly when you get to the edge," said Dr Guy Pignolet of CNES, the French space agency, which has conducted the trials.

"Extending it to remote areas is very costly, but with microwave technology you do not have those costs. You also do not have pylons, which you may not want in sensitive areas."

The technology works by converting direct current (DC) electricity into microwave power at the transmitting end in the same way that switching on a microwave oven converts electricity into waves using a device called a magnetron. Residents are unlikely to be baked as the frequencies in the two applications are entirely different.

Microwaves for the electricity are targeted via antennas and reflectors at a "rectenna" (from the words rectifier and antenna), which absorbs the microwave energy from the beam and converts it back into DC power with diodes.

In Grand-Bassin on Réunion, which lies at the bottom of a 3,000ft canyon with no road access, electricity is currently provided by solar panels placed on the roofs of the houses. But increasing the amount of electricity solely by using the panels is difficult because of the amount of surface area needed. It is also expensive.

The researchers have successfully produced a field prototype to illuminate a handful of light bulbs. A second prototype is being finalised and will be in operation in about 10 months, while the whole project to supply the village with power is scheduled to be completed within three years.

Additional reporting: Nick Speed
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ambo said:
Wireless electricity is ancient history and is pretty infeasible due to a couple of LAWS OF PHYSICS :p
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People have found ways to bend these so-called 'laws' for centuries.

I've heard someone say that the year the first atom was split, they were still taught in school why it is impossible to split an atom.
 
Tanarri said:
People have found ways to bend these so-called 'laws' for centuries.

I've heard someone say that the year the first atom was split, they were still taught in school why it is impossible to split an atom.
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In this case we don't need to look at fancy physics but just basic laws, i.e. if an element consumes a certain amount of energy, that is what must be supplied.

Say you have a device that consumes 500W. That is what is running across the 220V line at the moment (just over 2 Amps).

Now nothing stops you beaming 500W to your TV, all you need is a transmitter with antenna and on the other end a receiver with antenna. Just like your WiFi setup works today.

But it's the scale that different. The issues between transmitting 50mW and 500W is substantial in terms of equipment, spectrum and health.

So no-one is saying it can't be done. It can. But are you going to sit in a RF field at home that's can deliver a few KiloWatts to any device in your home.

You'd probably be safer inside your microwave oven. :rolleyes:
 
It wont work. I suspect that more energy is lost by this method than a wire way. So here in SA we can't afford to waste power like that.

But lets live in a physics ideal word. I see people stealing electricity, people doing stupid things etc etc. It's not an option here in africa.
 
eltherza said:
It wont work. I suspect that more energy is lost by this method than a wire way. So here in SA we can't afford to waste power like that.

But lets live in a physics ideal word. I see people stealing electricity, people doing stupid things etc etc. It's not an option here in africa.
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Just think how easy it would be to steal electricity this way. All you need to do is to stick an antenna in the beam.

Actually read about a farmer that did this at some point. Wound a secondary winding around some power transmission lines.....
 
I dreamt about this when I was 5. Woke up in the night screaming. The beams of electricity was frying my alive....
:D
 
I thought this was the electricity of the future... at least for us in South Africa...

candle.jpg
 
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