Really cool advancements in technology and electric power are being made everyday. In fact, how many times have you thought of an invention that would make your life easier, only to find out that it already exists or it came to market soon after your professed your need. One super exciting invention that’s on the rise is wireless charging. It’s conveniences are: being able to seamlessly charge your devices without the mess of tangled wires and helping to eliminate some of the heap of chargers that sit in landfills.
The method behind wireless power (aka wireless energy transmission) was discovered and recorded by André-Marie Ampére in 1826. Ampére’s Circitual Law states that for any closed loop path, the sum of the length elements times the magnetic field in the direction of the length element is equal to the permeability times the electric current enclosed in the loop.
In 1836 Nicholas Callan invented induction coils (aka the electrical transformer that transfers energy magnetically through coils), and by 1891 Nicola Tesla used the coils to demonstrate wireless energy. The sum of these finding… wireless charging!
Here’s how it works: you have a copper coil hooked into a device, and another copper coil attached to an energy transmitter. When the two get close enough, the energy transmitter sends electric current through an electromagnetic field and Shazam!, your device begins to charge.
Today we use this technology to wirelessly charge our electric toothbrushes, smartphones, laptops, and more!
Coming soon you’ll see this technology becoming more and more popular in coffee shop tables, your kitchen appliances and countertops, even when charging your electric cars. As developments in wireless power technology gains momentum, so does the endless possibilities of what we can charge inductively. Eventually, we’ll even have the choice of using solar energy as our energy transmitter vs electrical sockets.
So what are the Pros & Cons? Well, some of the most obvious pros are the elimination of wire clutter, more spacial freedom when charging, you won’t need to have a different type of charger with a different type of plug for every different device you have- you’ll be able to seamlessly charge all your wirelessly charging devices on the same station, and there will me a lot less of the waste that continues to accumulate in landfills from chargers & batteries that will never disintegrate into the earth.
The cons: well, right now it’s a bit more expensive to purchase a wireless charging device- but prices are sure to decrease as the demand for wireless charging grows. The biggest con is the business qualms happening behind the mass sale and distribution of these products. Right now there are two major wireless energy “standards,” Qi & Power 2.0. The most efficient way that wireless charging will work to all of our benefit, is if there was only one standard for us to worry about our devices being compatible with OR if all of our devices are made with dual compatibility for both standards and any other standard that may come along.
It’ll be interesting to watch the development of wireless charging as it becomes more popular with consumers and the demand for a more convenient method arises. In the meantime make sure to follow us and stay up to date with the latest in wireless living on the go.
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