Is there a more useful dream than wireless power? The idea of being able to charge your phone just by walking into a room has been in the works since Tesla and Edison were arguing over whether to use DC or AC power. And, of all companies, Disney appears to be the company that’s cracked the code.
The bad news is that even Disney’s not arguing this innovation will be in our homes tomorrow. The company pulled this off by building a custom room to do it, with aluminum wall panels and a giant copper pole in the center. We know what you’re thinking, but the pole is not for fun; instead it holds 15 capacitors. That sets a resonant frequency and creates a magnetic field, so anything in the room with a coil that can resonate at that frequency will pick up some juice.
There are a few problems, the first being that something in the room needs to be picking up this energy or the room becomes dangerous to humans. Also you’ll need to stay at least ten inches away from the giant copper resonator throbbing with electricity or you can guess what happens next (spoiler: It’s not good). So, yeah, there are still a few kinks that need to be worked out.
That said, though, this is the first genuinely viable wireless power concept we’ve seen. The system will undeniably need to be refined, but it’s hard to complain that we’re getting closer to a world where you can charge your phone by grabbing a seat in a lounge.
(Via Gizmodo)