Wireless charging seems so great, I plug this thingy in and then set this other thingy on
it…
BAM power!
But how the heck does electricity get from the wall into my phone?
Hello everyone!
Trace here for DNews, thanks for stopping by!
You're probably watching this show via a device that has a battery.
Laptops, mobile phones, toothbrushes, though…
not this new watch everyone's talking about for some reason…
All these things need charging and for the moment we're still using cords and plugs for
this…
Inductive charging isn't new, it's been used since the early 1990s in electric toothbrushes,
and for surgically implanted devices like artificial hearts.
You've even heard of this in pop culture!
In the late 1800s, Tesla was allegedly able to power light bulbs with no wires, and claimed
to be able to transmit power from one location to another with no wires…
To make it work relies on simple physics.
If you ever wrapped a coil of wire around a nail and attached a battery, then you know
the electricity in the battery runs through the wire creating an electromagnetic field,
or flux.
Do it at home, it's fun and you can use it to pick up paperclips or whatever.
With that same principle, a coil of wire… magnet… battery…
you can make it go the other way too.
Spin a magnet in the coil and you'll GENERATE electricity by taking that magnetic flux and
moving it through that coil to create electricity.
The battery creates a stable electromagnet because it's direct current, it's going one
way.
The power from your walls is alternating current, changes direction 60 times a second -- or
cycles at 60 hertz -- so the electrons are moving back and forth -- remember that because
that's the key to the charging.
Wireless inductive charging gets its name from that magnetic field interaction, called
induction.
Inside of the charging pad, and the inductive charging device are tiny coils of wire.
The pad, being plugged into the wall, is fully powered -- and the power is cycling.
When the other coils come within a short distance their flux will interact with the flux in
the device, move the electrons around and charge the battery.
Chances are, the number of cycles per second isn't going to be 60 hertz, but like, 5 or
10, so it doesn't mess up other things in your house.
Your WiFi network cycles at 2.4 gigahertz or 2.4 billion cycles per second, so it's
DEFINITELY not going to mess THAT up, but with all the radio waves flying around, you
can't be too careful.
If it's that easy, you'd think it would be everywhere, but the problem is efficiency.
You waste a lot of power filling up two coils and letting them talk to each other.
It's SO much better to just plug right in.
The future of wireless charging is unclear.
It seems like a great idea, but it's still going to be a short-distance system for a
while.
In 2006, MIT found if you match the frequencies of the devices, you can make the power go
a few METERS -- so if you were in your living room, and a charger was there -- your phone
would charge right in your pocket…
They're working on marketing the technology now, but it's still not everywhere…
Mr. Tesla, we're getting there, man.
Speaking of awesome innovations - how about ones that make flying a little less suckier?
That happens to be the focus of discussion on THIS episode of Anyhoo, hosted by my friend
Catie Wayne.
Check it out!
Back to wireless charging - what would you want to power wirelessly?
I'd love to beam power to my TV!
Then I could put it anywhere!
Down with cables!
Leave your comments down below, Please subscribe and thanks for watching!