Welcome to our “gadget week.” And for the first newsletter this week, we’re going to talk about a technology that we believe will literally transform (pun intended) your life. And while wireless power could be convenient for applications like powering and recharging your telephone and your notebook computer, the more important applications could come, for instance, as a part of a business continuity plan.
Welcome to our “gadget week.” And for the first newsletter this week, we’re going to talk about a technology that we believe will literally transform (pun intended) your life. And while wireless power could be convenient for applications like powering and recharging your telephone and your notebook computer, the more important applications could come, for instance, as a part of a business continuity plan.
Here’s the scoop. We all learned about transformers – the real ones – in middle school physical science. You remember. You have two coils of wire, and you can transfer electricity from one coil to the other if they’re sufficiently close together. And you can even step the voltage up or down.
But the fundamental assumption has been that for practical purposes, the two coils had to be relatively close together. But now the idea of wireless power transfer has been shown to be close to reality.
The basic idea is that you have a “transmitter” coil that is placed within a room. This coil “transmits” at a safe and efficient frequency. Then “receivers” can pick up the electricity and produce power for actively powering devices and/or recharging batteries.
It’s this latter application that seems to be of particular interest in the IT arena. For instance, having every device connected to a UPS is sometimes impractical. And if it’s a mobile device, then you have to keep the batteries charged. But what if a wireless power receiver were built into a phone – or even a server or router? The convenience of battery backup without having to remember to keep the batteries charged.
So, in addition to the “fun” applications that we can imagine, let’s get back to basics. Our recent “2009 Webtorials Business Continuity State-of-the-Market Report” found that one of the most common causes of major outages is a power failure. While wireless power won’t exactly solve this problem – the transmitter still needs power – the issue of keeping devices charged has become a non-issue.
For more information on this technology, we suggest that you check out at least three sources of information. There’s a great overview that was produced by the BBC. Also, an interesting and entertaining overview is available at WhatYouOughtToKnow.com. And finally, if you want to really get to the heart of the matter, including the availability of scientific papers, check out Witricity Corp.
And don’t forget to start asking for wireless power compatibility in your RFPs next year!
