Wireless Power Transfer - WiTricity



In last few years, our society experienced a silent, but quite dramatic,
revolution in terms of the number of autonomous electronic devices
(e.g. laptops, palm pilots, digital cameras, household robots, etc.)
that we use in our everyday lives. Currently, most of these devices are
powered by batteries, which need to be recharged very often.

This fact motivated us to think whether there exist physical principles
that could enable wireless powering of these and similar devices.

Results of our research on the feasibility of using resonant objects,
strongly coupled through the tails of their non-radiative modes, for
mid-range (i.e. a few meters: e.g. within a room, or a factory pavilion)
wireless power transfer applications seem to be quite encouraging.

At this web-page, you will find a few most relevant materials about
this work of ours.





Theory of Wireless Power Transfer
(Publicly announced in November 2006)


In our first paper, (Annals of Physics) we explained the
theory behind our scheme.

Davide Castelvecchi from American Institute of Physics wrote an
excellent press release, that in simple terms explains our concept.



This work attracted a substantial interest of the press, including:

  • "Recharging, The Wireless Way," Angela Chang, abcnews.go.com, 22nd December (2006).

  • "In the future, will our TVs be wireless?" Athima Chansanchai, www.msnbc.msn.com, 14th December (2006).

  • "Physics promises wireless power," J. Fildes, news.bbc.co.uk (featured on the front page of BBC News), 15th November (2006).

  • "Cut the cables - Wireless power," The Economist, p. 85, 18th November (2006).

  • "Wireless Energy Transfer May Power Devices at a Distance," J.R.Minkel, scientificamerican.com, 14th November (2006).

  • "Man tries wirelessly boosting batteries," Seth Borenstein, Associated Press, 15th November (2006).

  • "Evanescent coupling' could power gadgets wirelessly," Celeste Biever, NewScientist.com, 15th November (2006).

  • "Outlets are out," Phil Berardelli, sciencenow.sciencemag.org (daily news of Science Magazine), 14th November (2006).

  • Additional media coverage of our work on Wireless Energy Transfer include: BBC Radio 4, BBC World Radio, Forbes, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, The Herald (UK), PC World, USA Today, FOX news, CBS news, ABC local TV, Physics Today, and >300 articles in leading newspapers and radio-reports in numerous countries around the world, including: Germany, Australia, Iran, India, Croatia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, UK, Poland, Canada, Netherlands, Tailand, Dominican Republic.





Experiments on Wireless Power Transfer
(Publicly announced on June 07, 2007)


In our experimental paper, (Science) we demonstrated
wireless transfer of 60W of power over 2 meter distances.
You can also download the article's corresponding
Supplementary Online Material, that contains some nice photos of the experiment.

The press release, by Franklin Hadley from Institute for Soldier
Nanotechnologies (MIT) explains in simple terms, yet precisely what we did.



This work also attracted a substantial interest of the press, including:

  • "TR10: Wireless Power," Jennifer Chu, Technology Review (special issue on The 10 Emerging Technologies of 2008), March/April (2008).

  • "First Step to Wireless Electricity," Jeffrey Winters, Discover Magazine (special issue on 100 Top Science Stories of 2007), January (2008).

  • "Wireless Energy," Clay Risen, New York Times (included into the special Year in Ideas issue), December 9th (2007).

  • "MIT Scientists Pave the Way For Wireless Battery Charging," William M. Bulkeley, Wall Street Journal, June 8th (2007).

  • "MIT powers a lightbulb without wires," USA Today, June 9th (2007).

  • "MIT team lights it up - without wires," Chris Reidy and Carolyn Johnson, Boston Globe, June 8th (2007).

  • "Power advance heralds future of gadgets that can be recharged wirelessly," Brian Bergstein, Associated Press, June 7th (2007).

  • "Wireless Energy Lights Bulb from Seven Feet Away," J.R. Minkel, Scientific American, June 7th (2007).

  • "Wireless energy promise powers up," Jonathan Fildes, news.bbc.co.uk (featured on the front page of BBC News), June 7th (2007).

  • Additional media coverage of our experimental work on Wireless Energy Transfer include: BBC Radio, The Times (UK), The Daily Telegraph (UK), The Daily Mail (UK), Popular Mechanics, NPR, Suddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Le Monde (France), and >500 articles in leading newspapers and radio-reports in numerous countries around the world, including: Australia, Iran, China, Croatia, Greece, Spain, Canada, Nigeria, Brazil.