Group items tagged

"Centuries ago, Nikola Tesla envisioned and pioneered the concept of wirelessly transmitting power over long distances through the Earth's ionosphere. In the recent past, wireless energy transfer has occurred by way of an electromagnetic (EM) field set to a certain frequency level. While transmission efficiency over longer distances is attained to an extent by this method, it becomes increasingly difficult when complicated pointing and tracking mechanisms are mandatory to maintain the right wavelength between the transmitter and the receiver. Another drawback to this approach is that any object that falls between the transmitter and the receiver impedes the beam, thus interrupting power transmission to a potentially harmful degree if the power level goes beyond a certain threshold point. Even though microwave frequencies could prove effective to transmit power over long distances through a radiated EM field, the aforementioned caveats still apply. The other possible way to wirelessly transmit power is by non-radiative fields. For instance, a transformer operates by magnetic induction drawing similarities to wireless power transfer. Energy transfer in a transformer happens from the primary coil to a secondary coil in the absence of a direct electrical connection. The same approach can be seen in inductive chargers found in electric toothbrushes, for example. However, for this functionality to operate smoothly, primary and secondary coils must be positioned in close proximity to one another."