from the for-your-safety,-please-remove-tinfoil-hat dept.
Disney researchers have created a system for wirelessly transmitting power:
Quasistatic Cavity Resonance for Ubiquitous Wireless Power Transfer (open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169045) (DX)
Wireless power delivery has the potential to seamlessly power our electrical devices as easily as data is transmitted through the air. However, existing solutions are limited to near contact distances and do not provide the geometric freedom to enable automatic and un-aided charging. We introduce quasistatic cavity resonance (QSCR), which can enable purpose-built structures, such as cabinets, rooms, and warehouses, to generate quasistatic magnetic fields that safely deliver kilowatts of power to mobile receivers contained nearly anywhere within. A theoretical model of a quasistatic cavity resonator is derived, and field distributions along with power transfer efficiency are validated against measured results. An experimental demonstration shows that a 54 m3 QSCR room can deliver power to small coil receivers in nearly any position with 40% to 95% efficiency. Finally, a detailed safety analysis shows that up to 1900 watts can be transmitted to a coil receiver enabling safe and ubiquitous wireless power.
Also at Disney Research and NBF.
Related Stories
Stickman is Disney's new headless acrobatic robot
The team at Disney Research never fails to deliver fascinating (if not always particularly useful) experiments. Take Stickman. The robot is essentially one long limb, capable of some cool acrobatic maneuvers.
The system, detailed in a new paper from DR titled "Towards a Human Scale Acrobatic Robotic," has two degrees of freedom and a pendulum it uses to launch itself in the air after swinging on a rope. The relatively simple robot tucks and folds, somersaulting in the air before landing on the padding below.
Those aerials are executed courtesy of a built-in laser range finder and six axis inertial measurement unit (a combination gyroscope/accelerometer), which calculate its position in-flight and adjust its positioning accordingly.
Also at IEEE (guest post written by Disney researcher Morgan Pope), The Verge, and Engadget.
Stickman: Towards a Human Scale Acrobatic Robot
Related: UCLA Mathematicians Bring Ocean to Life for Disney's 'Moana'
"Quasistatic Cavity Resonance" Used to Wirelessly Power Devices in a Room
Catching a Real Ball in Virtual Reality
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @01:00PM
Lead by prof. Gyro Gearloose, main investor Scrooge McDuck ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @04:13PM
And here I was wondering if "Quasistatic Cavity Resonance" was a euphemism for something.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday February 17 2017, @06:34PM
Co-authored by Goatse man.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @01:44PM
I wondered why the magnetic stripes always got wiped every time I walked into a Disney lab.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @02:25PM
Lets get Samsung to make them. What could possibly go wrong?
(Score: 3, Informative) by PiMuNu on Friday February 17 2017, @03:22PM
The authors propose making a resonant cavity, fill it with 1 MHz RF at 600 V/m, and then put a receiver coil in to generate electricity. High Q, low loss, can only be achieved if the cavity (i.e. room) walls are made from metal with a reasonably simple geometry - like a square.
(Score: 1) by Muad'Dave on Friday February 17 2017, @07:09PM
The FCC MPE calc here [hintlink.com] shows that at 1900W and 0dBi and 1 MHz, you're safe at about 2 feet from the radiator if you take into account ground reflections, and a little over 1.3 feet if you don't. That's a lot closer than I imagined, but then again we don't couple to 1 MHz very well.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Friday February 17 2017, @08:58PM
OTOH, medium wave reception is clobbered for approximately 900 miles.
Much as I trust FCC calculations, I do not intend to try it until I have an embedded RF sensor inside my eyeballs
Oh, wait ...
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday February 18 2017, @05:13AM
While the chosen frequency is indeed in the medium-wave band. However, the chamber is constructed of aluminium panels, so that--except when the door is open-it would form a Faraday cage. With the door open, would the structure radiate efficiently at 1 MHz? An open doorway is small compared to the corresponding wavelength: less than 3 m as compared to 300 m. If it does radiate efficiently, that would be a useful discovery in itself, as the antennas used for medium-wave transmitters are generally much larger than this chamber.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @04:08PM
The authors built and demonstrated their room. If a person formed their arms into a large circle with the fingertips almost touching (this is called a Hertzian resonator after Heinrich Hertz) aligned for strongest coupling to the magnetic field, they could get 100 volts and a small spark between their fingertips.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @04:36PM
Isn't this like being inside a big microwave oven?
How warm will my belt buckle get? (or metal ring on my finger)
Will it trash the RFID chip in my Passport? (this could be a good thing...)
What happens to the input stage for the Wi-Fi or cellular receiver in my laptop or phone??
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @05:39PM
This was not in the linked paper. Where do you get this idea?
Also, 100 Volts is not enough to jump much distance at all in air, and the paper did some simulation that indicates poor coupling of the EM fields to human body tissue.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday February 17 2017, @06:37PM
There really isn't much more to say, but I don't want to do ANY business with ANY Disney arm. Period.
If I started avoiding SONY over a few vile moves, there's no way I'd start doing business with Disney.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday February 17 2017, @06:48PM
There's no need. This will be deployed in the Disney parks for mind wiping purposes.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Uncle_Al on Friday February 17 2017, @07:22PM
"It's a Magical Place"
be seeing you.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Friday February 17 2017, @09:21PM
No. Put up large warning signs where this is in operation so I can stay the Hell away.
While I will take a chance on the low power transmitter in a cellphone being near me, there is no way I want (round off) a 2KW transmitter radiating through me for hours at a time. I know all the rules about different frequencies being absorbed differently, I had an Amateur Radio license. Don't care, I seriously doubt they have done very many human trials on something this obviously dumb. What is the upside we are exposing ourselves to unknown risks for? People too damned lazy to plug in their phone? Set it on a wireless charging mat?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by inertnet on Friday February 17 2017, @09:45PM
I'm not looking forward to it either. I don't have one, but am wondering what it'll do to people with pacemakers.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @10:36PM
0.4 meters = diameter of circle formed by person's arms.
0.126 square meters = (0.4 M)^2 * pi/4 = area of circle.
100 amperes per meter = H field near central rod, from paper.
* pi * 4e-07 teslas per (ampere per meter) = mu-nought = magnetic permeability of free space.
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1.3e-04 teslas = B field at circle.
*7.7e+06 radians per second = 2 * pi * 1.23 MHz frequency from paper.
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971 teslas per second = dB/dt = rate of change of B field.
Orient the circle perpendicular to B field for maximum coupling.
971 teslas per second = dB/dt .
*0.126 square meters = area of circle.
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122 volts induced around the circle.
This is probably root-mean-square RMS, so is about the voltage we get from a United-States wall outlet. In an otherwise-dark room, unplug an incandescent (so noninductive) lamp from a wall outlet, and you will see a tiny spark as the circuit is broken. Since spark is tiny, the person's fingers would have to be very close together to observe the spark.