Pros and Cons (challenges) of Wireless power.

Hi there! 

How is everyone feeling, prepared for another awesome post?

If we do a recap, so far, we have posted about what is wireless technology, how it works, who invented it ...

Today we are talking about some of the pros and cons of wireless power. It is going to be a pretty straight forward post so... let’s get started!

Plugs, cords & sockets vs. Wireless Power

   (Old vs. New)

Pros:

·         The very first benefit from wireless energy would be the simplification of energy transfer. No more messy cables all around! With wireless power it is so much easier to charge multiple devices at once without relying on wires and sockets, finally you can get rid of cords. Plus, no adaptors!

·         We could also mention safety issues, for example, if you have children at home there will be no worries about them playing around putting fingers where they shouldn’t, no plugs or direct or physical connection needed! It reduce risk of electric shock.

·         A (+) point in favor of this technology that comes along the previous mentioned, is the possibility of saving space at home, in offices and manufacturing plants etc. Moreover, as time goes by, power lines throughout rooms and buildings could disappear. How convenient could this be and how nicer places could seem? People could easily power any device from anywhere or add any gadget in the building without having any trouble like maintenance, hiring electricians etc.

·         Another pro which I really like it’s the fact that wireless power is better for the environment than many other energy sources.  For example, batteries will not be needed anymore in tons of devices like the remote control of your TV. Isn’t it great?

·         Reduce cost by leveraing the ability to power multiple devices from a single source resonator.

·         Elimitate complex docking mechanisms, and labor intensive manual recharging andbattery replacement.  

Cons (challenges) :

·         The most important drawback would be to adapt current devices in order to be compatible with wireless energy transfer. Standardization and adaptation is needed in order to overcome obsolescence, to do so can be really costly.

·         Another inconvenient would be face on payments and ownership. As it happens nowadays with the internet wifi, new features will have to be added because wireless power will make thievery much simpler on the energy market. How will they ensure you are getting what you pay and nobody is stealing electricity from your source, how will they even compute this? Big question!

·         We can include here the concerns regarding health hazards even though there are reports that says there will be no health risk.

·         Worth to mention that the technology makes things easier but if you experience a failure or breakdown, the system or things you have to fix are much more complicated that a cord.

Well... That were some of the advantages and disadvantages we have come up with today. 

Can you think of any other? We would love to hear from you guys!

And coming up soon....  new blog post about wireless power technology application in different industries! 

If I were you I wouldn't miss it, stay tuned!

Cheers & love.

Davinia Rodriguez.

How this magic works?

Till now all we’ve been talking about so far is how wireless power is so cool and how this man called Tesla was the 1^st one to come up with this idea. But what we haven’t talked about yet is that how this so called magic trick actually works….

Well… since this post involves a bit of science and physics….. so for those of you who don’t like science … bear with us.

To simplify things… We’ll start with the basics.

There is a phenomenon in physics called electro-magnetic induction. What essentially happens in this phenomenon is that when electricity passes through a metallic coil, it produces a magnetic field. Now if a second metallic coil is kept in such a way, that it is parallel to the 1^st coil, an electric current will start flowing through it. This is essentially how electromagnetic induction works. This is also the same way a transformer steps up and steps down the voltage. All you need to do is increase or decrease the number of rings in the coil, depending if you want to step up the voltage or step down the voltage.

But then how is wireless power different from a transformer?

Well… here it gets interesting…. In the case of wireless power, the electric coil is tuned to a fixed frequency…. The second coil… which is at a distance apart is also tuned to the same frequency…  when electricity passes through the 1^st coil, coupled resonance takes place allowing the electricity to flow through the second coil wirelessly… the following video will demonstrate this more clearly…

So that’s how wireless power actually works… hope you enjoyed reading the post. Stay tuned for more.. cheers !!

Nicola Tesla: The man who made it possible.

There are some people in this world who are ordinary. They basically lead mundane lives and contend with the way things are. Then there are the extraordinary ones… who challenge the world around them and come up with new possibilities.

Nicola Tesla belonged to none of these categories. To put it in better words… if God himself were to bestow his presence upon us… he would have done it through Nicola Tesla. That’s the stature and honor this man deserves.

The sad part is that despite the things this man did for all of us, he was treated in the most disrespectful way and ultimately died bankrupt and alone in a New York City hotel.

Nicola Tesla is to be thanked for pretty much everything that makes your life and work easier. If it weren’t for him, you would still be sitting in a cave drawing paintings on walls. He was the one, who discovered alternating current, invented the AC Motor and discovered Wireless Power.

He was the first man to think that Electric Current could be transmitted wirelessly from one place to another. And so at the age of 35, he invented the Tesla Coil !!!

Now what exactly is a Tesla Coil?? Well… it’s kinda like an electric transformer… The only difference is that this Bad Boy step’s up the voltage to about 13 million volts or even much more than that…(depending on the size of the coil).  Tesla wanted to use its invention to pump the earth and the atmosphere with electricity. Knowing that the Earth is a conductor of electricity, he wanted to use this to his advantage to transmit power around the world.  He would famously demonstrate the concept of wireless power from time to time, by holding a bulb in his hand and making it glow.

Later on he came up with the plan to transmit wireless power globally by erecting a series of gigantic tesla coils around the world. Unfortunately this project could not materialize because Marconi used Tesla’s work to transmit a radio signal across the continent. This caused investors like JP Morgan to withdraw funding to Tesla’s projects.

Now… a couple of things might be bothering you… like if there’s electricity in the air… wouldn’t you die?? Well… to tell this in a better way…. The Tesla Coil emits electricity without harming humans…. It kinda works the same way as radio waves. They are around us but they don’t harm us… doesn’t mean that they don’t exist in the 1^st place… because if that were true… then guess what… you wouldn’t be able to listen to your favorite radio station while you were stuck in a traffic jam.

Tesla was a man who lived 200 years ahead of his time. He might not have won a single Nobel Prize but each of his inventions are priceless and much more valuable than those of Edison’s, Marconi’s and Roentgen’s put together. Tesla was a giver who sought nothing more in return than the respect of his fellow human beings. We will forever be in debt to him for all that he has done for the benefit of the world. To end with… I would like to share a quote by the man himself…. Nicola Tesla

“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.”

Andrea Pasqua.

Un Plugged... The next big thing??

How many times has it happened to you that you want to make an important phone call and your phone battery is dead, or you are walking in a dark room and trip over your extension chord. A member of our group was actually involved in one of the above mentioned situations. She had managed a car accident for the 2^nd time in a week !!!, and was stranded in the middle of the road with her dead cell phone. She wanted to contact the police but she couldn’t. She wanted to contact the Tow Your Car service, but she couldn’t. But most importantly she wanted to contact her family to tell them that everything was alright, but she couldn’t.

Imagine being in a similar situation, where you want to make an important phone call but your phone battery is dead, or you forgot your laptop charger and your in the middle of an important presentation and your laptop dies.

We have came across this photo on facebook and as funny and sarcastic it may seem, it is actually very true that with every passing day, our dependency on technology is increasing. The more complex technology gets, the more power it consumes and the more number of charging points are needed. Most of us today use atleast 2 portable electronic devices. Probably 20 years from now when the oil reserves of the world will be finished, our entire dependence for power would shift to electricity.

So does that mean that we’ll be carrying a suitcase full of chargers to charge our electronic gadgets wherever we go?

A wise man said once that “necessity is the mother of invention”. The question is how is this proverb valid with respect to this article?

Imagine if you didn’t need charging cables or disposable batteries ever, and your devices got charged wirelessly. Sounds like magic dosen’t it??

Well…. As Arthur C Clark puts it… “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

Although most of you might find this hard to believe, this is actually possible !!!

Wireless power is the future of all electronic devices. And that’s exactly what this blog is all about. So sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy, because your in for 1 hell of a ride !!!

Unpluggie team.