We’re still at the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much there is to learn about the potential of wireless charging. Researchers at Stanford University might have taken a significant step forward in this field when they recently claimed to have wirelessly transmitted electricity between two mobile objects separated about three feet from each other. If this is actually the case, such an advancement could significantly extend the reach of electric cars, along with other practical applications that wireless charging can be applied to like charging mobile phones and even pacemakers.
Remote power has (in some capacity) existed since the mid-20th century when researchers used microwaves to wirelessly charge a miniature helicopter. Research in this field has since gotten scientists and engineers to implement this charging method on smartphones, despite still being in its infancy.
According to the Stanford researchers involved on the project (whose findings were published in the journal Nature), the distance between two objects in this setup isn’t the main obstacle to exchanging power, rather it’s how the two objects interact in space that is ultimately the main determinant. Instead of how close or far apart something is to a power source, the most significant aspect of wireless charging is tuning. Wireless charging has been restrained from getting on a path to mainstream status until now. Researchers discovered that energy sources and their recipients had to remain stationary for power to be transferred.
If one of the components involved in this exchange of energy are moved, the magnetic connections delivering the energy between the power source and object in question would be broken. Researchers attempted to adjust the magnetic connections to maintain a steady charge, however, this process proved too difficult. Instead, the scientists adjusted voltage and feedback so an instant connection that kept charging was produced, even as the energy source and recipient were moved.
In their experiment, the team used a moving LED lightbulb to transfer a one-milliwatt charge.
The process is equivalent to tapping into the energy released from microphone feedback, in that you’re working with a gain element that’s amplified in a circuit, along with the frequency of feedback noise. Since electric cars usually need tens of kilowatts to drive sufficiently, there lies a lot of promise in this research for the future of green vehicles if the team could scale their findings. Electric cars have ranges around 200 miles before needing a recharge, a process that could take hours to complete. Many car companies are working feverishly to prolong that range instead of just looking into charging cars more frequently.
Ultimately, the amount of electricity being transferred to electric cars needs a significant bolstering instead of trying to stretch the range of these vehicles. While applying this wireless charging concept on our public roadways (which would completely alter the country’s infrastructure), this transition could theoretically enable an electric car to drive for an unlimited amount of time without stopping for a charge. The ultimate hope is drivers can charge their electric cars while driving down the highway, using a coil at the bottom of the vehicle that would receive electricity from a series of coils embedded in the road that are connected to an electric current.
