Have you ever had the trouble finding a power socket at a public place? Have you ever felt that the power socket could have been closer to your seating area at your home? Have you ever felt that carrying chargers for your devices like Laptop and Cell phone is a tedious affair? Though such problems can be solved with ease, a better solution is on the way. Witricity is combination of the words Wireless and Electricity. As impossible as it may have seemed a decade ago, with current technologies it has become a possibility. Witricity stands for wireless electricity and has the capability to provide electricity to remote objects without wires. Witricity consists of two parts. One, the Witricity Transmitter and second, are the devices which act as the receivers. Like any other basic wireless transmissions, the receivers should be within the range of the transmitter.
Working: -
Witricity is based on the principle of strong coupling between the electromagnetic resonant objects which will transfer energy between them wirelessly. The transmitters and receivers have magnetic loop antennas that are tuned to same frequency. The coupling is similar to what is found in transformers. In Transformers the primary coil and the secondary coil are very near. In the case of Witricity, the primary coil is in the transmitter device and the secondary coil is in the receiving device. When electric current is passed through the primary coil, a powerful electromagnetic field is created around it. Receivers would pick up the power when they come into the transmitters vicinity.
Initial test: -
The MIT researchers did the first successful test using a 60 watt light bulb. They used two 5-turn copper coils of 60 cm diameter, that were 7 feet away. The working was noted with 45% efficiency. The coils were designed to resonate at 9.9 MHz and also they were oriented along the same axis. One coil was connected to the power source and the other to the bulb.
Why is the idea not wide spread yet? : -
Even though the idea is not new, the idea of using it in wide scale is dismissed since the efficiency levels are quite low. Also the electromagnetic energy generated is radiated in all directions, so it causes lot of energy wastage. Many people using the electronic devices have the ones with batteries and battery chargers. So this new idea will take lot of time to become widespread.
Usage Ideas: -
1. A device with the primary coil is setup at various points in the house and working continuously. All the receiver devices will have a secondary coil and will have electricity wirelessly supplied by the transmitter.
2. A similar setup can be installed at all the prominent public areas like the airports , railway stations etc, which would become a convenience to the people using it.
If the idea of witricity gains widespread usage then it could bring up a new era of wireless living. So, it will not only reduce the amount of wires used around us but also will reduce the battery usage to a large extent.
- Abhilash Owk
