Eugen Leitl wrote:
----- Forwarded message from "Hughes, James J." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn12014
Your cellphone or laptop computer may soon recharge itself the same
way it transfers information - wirelessly.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in
the US, report that they can now send substantial amounts of power -
enough to light a 60-watt bulb - across a room by magnetic induction
between two devices tuned to resonate with each other.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks a lot like vituperatively AM
crystal radio receivers my father taught me to cobble together nigh unto
fifty years ago.
I don't believe we ever got 60 watts out of any of them, but I did hook
a lamp up to one and got an adequate light out of it for a closet that
lacked power. The AM broadcasts just needed a second diode and a fat
capacitor to give sufficiently constant light. (Rock stations that never
shut up were the best.)
At work we use inductive coupling to power several dozen wireless
vehicles. These aren't small, as some are moving theaters that carry 120
people, and our newest installation is a small fleet of electric submarines.
Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed that MIT hasn't done better research in
the field than this article suggests.
Bruce Metcalf
Lake Buena Vista, FL
