Duke University researchers have demonstrated the feasibility of wireless power transfer using low-frequency magnetic fields over distances much larger than the size of the transmitter and receiver.
The advance comes from a team of researchers in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, who used metamaterials to create a “superlens” that focuses magnetic fields. The superlens translates the magnetic field emanating from one power coil onto its twin nearly a foot away, inducing an electric current in the receiving coil.
The experiment was the first time such a scheme has successfully sent power safely and efficiently through the air with an efficiency many times greater than what could be achieved with the same setup minus the superlens.
Going forward, Urzhumov wants to drastically upgrade the system to make it more suitable for realistic power transfer scenarios, such as charging mobile devices as they move around in a room. He plans to build a dynamically tunable superlens, which can control the direction of its focused power cone.
If successful, the usable volume of “power hot spots” should be substantially expanded. It may not be easy, however, to maintain the efficiency of the power beam as it gets steered to a high degree. But that is a challenge that Urzhumov and his colleagues look forward to dealing with.
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Each side of each constituent cube of the “superlens” is set with a long, spiraling copper coil. The end of each coil is connected to its twin on the reverse side of the wall. Credit courtesy of Guy Lipworth, graduate student researcher at Duke University
Nature Scientific Reports - Magnetic Metamaterial Superlens for Increased Range Wireless Power Transfer
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The advance comes from a team of researchers in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, who used metamaterials to create a “superlens” that focuses magnetic fields. The superlens translates the magnetic field emanating from one power coil onto its twin nearly a foot away, inducing an electric current in the receiving coil.
The experiment was the first time such a scheme has successfully sent power safely and efficiently through the air with an efficiency many times greater than what could be achieved with the same setup minus the superlens.
Going forward, Urzhumov wants to drastically upgrade the system to make it more suitable for realistic power transfer scenarios, such as charging mobile devices as they move around in a room. He plans to build a dynamically tunable superlens, which can control the direction of its focused power cone.
If successful, the usable volume of “power hot spots” should be substantially expanded. It may not be easy, however, to maintain the efficiency of the power beam as it gets steered to a high degree. But that is a challenge that Urzhumov and his colleagues look forward to dealing with.
Each side of each constituent cube of the “superlens” is set with a long, spiraling copper coil. The end of each coil is connected to its twin on the reverse side of the wall. Credit courtesy of Guy Lipworth, graduate student researcher at Duke University
Nature Scientific Reports - Magnetic Metamaterial Superlens for Increased Range Wireless Power Transfer
Read more »
