KAIST Wireless Power: Charge 40 Phones At One Go

Researches at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) are on to something big; so big that it will change your perception about wireless charging forever. With the technology that they are on to, KAIST researches hope to make power cords redundant in the future and get you to power up to 40 smartphones at one go. The good news is that the technology can be extended to powering a large TV or even a fan.

As seen in the video below, the researchers demonstrate how the Dipole Coil Resonant System – which is currently a prototype – uses two long magnetic coils that power the devices via inductive charging. Given the bulk of the design and its costs, the technology is currently very expensive for mass use. However this does not limit its potential use in public places, offering free electric power to consumers.

Chun T. Rim, an engineering professor at KAIST, interestingly compares the usage of the technology to WiFi zones. Calling it Wi-Power zones, he hopes to see the implementation in restaurants and streets, thus providing electric power wirelessly to electronic devices. Currently the charging is activated when the device is within the 5-meter distance from the prototype.

With a maximum output power of 209 W at 20 kHz, the Dipole Coil Resonant System can charge multiple devices simultaneously. An earlier version of a similar technology was introduced by MIT with the Coupled Magnetic Resonance System (CMRS) in 2007. Here the distance for transmission was 2.1 meters. While the KAIST version is still in its early phase, we hope to see a commercial version out in the near future.

SOURCE: TechnoBuffalo