Russian Scientists Roll Out Revolutionary Wireless Charger Tech

Something that none of us can do without these days is a charging device, so it is no wonder that the science community has been brainstorming how to render the process of powering up our manifold devices quickly and with minimal hassle. A group of Russian scientists and engineers has unveiled a charger that they have touted as “revolutionary”. New Russian charging tech may have you ditching your wires as obsolete. Scientists from the Saint Petersburg Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics have developed a prototype of a novel type of wireless charger - a truly revolutionary product that they believe may change our daily habits. Imagine a box with a magnetic field evenly distributed throughout its entire volume. And all you need to do to charge, for example, your mobile phone, is place it anywhere in the box. According to the research team, this design could, potentially, be used to create whole charging "rooms". No more worries about putting your phone on charge when you get home or generally worrying about whether you took your phone or laptop charging cable with you on a trip! Bringing a 'Wireless World' One Step Closer The idea of powering up multiple devices in a set volume of space had previously been proposed by researchers from the University of Tokyo and the University of Michigan, with scientists using a structure based on conductive surfaces, sheets of metal, and capacitors to create an oscillating circuit (resonator). This created a magnetic field inside a room, which could electromagnetically bind to small receiving coils attached to electrical devices. However, once the ITMO University team embarked upon their own research, recreating such an analog in their laboratory, they were quick to realize the development had a major drawback: the magnetic field in such a structure is distributed unevenly. Not only was the magnetic field concentrated only in the center of the room, but, furthermore, the design was quite difficult to integrate into different spaces, as one would need to enclose the space with large sheets of metal. Ultimately, the ITMO team came up with their own design. The prototype built by the Russian scientists is a box 50 cubic centimeters in size, which is able to charge at least three devices simultaneously, and it does not matter at which point of the box the gadgets will be located, Alena Shchelokova, Assistant Professor of ITMO University’s Department of Physics, said. Power will flow everywhere with the same efficiency, while the box works on the frequency supported by most mobile device manufacturers - 100 kHz (Qi standard). Some may wonder at this point just how safe an entire "room" for wireless charging might be for human health. Well, as part of the assessment of radiofrequency safety of the developed system, the ITMO team relies on international standards of various countries and organizations to limit the levels of electromagnetic (including separately magnetic and electrical) impacts on the human body. The scientists have already verified the compliance of the developed box to the reference limitations on external fields of the most advanced of the reviewed IEEE Std C95.1™-2019 standards and determined the minimum allowable distances from the resonator conductors and the receiving antenna of the charger, Alena Shchelokova added. The minimum safe distance for exposure to a magnetic field from the resonator conductors and the receiving antenna is 4 cm. At the same time, the impact of the electric field at a frequency of 100 kHz is much less than the magnetic field – the minimum safe distance is 5 mm. The hazardous area can be enclosed in the casing of the devices in order to ensure their safe use. Reflecting on the challenging research, Shchelokova underscored they had been fortunate to assemble a strong team of talented people, most of whom are students and graduate students of ITMO University. Looking ahead, researchers aim to make their technology available to a wide range of people, not only for personal use at home, but also in public places. For example, to equip special charging rooms or boxes in transport and public places. As for how their research could be used in the future, Polina Kapitanova said: "In my opinion, the most ambitious project is the transmission of energy to any consumer without wires to charge the batteries of any electronic device... We already developed smart surfaces to charge multiple electronic devices without wires and push this technology further. I believe we now find ourselves on the threshold of a new era, the era of wireless energy access. With the right development of wireless energy transmission systems, access systems, and improvements in technology, we can achieve a fundamental leap in the next few years and forget about wires." Read more: https://sputniknews.com/20221220/russian-scientists-roll-out-revolutionary-wireless-charger-tech-1105630747.html