Apple's Interest in WiTricity Wireless Charging

[MacRumors]

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported in passing that Apple was experimenting with "a new way of charging" the 2012 iPhone. Like our readers, our thoughts instantly went to some sort of wireless charging mechanism.

Of course, wireless charging isn't a new technology though the current implementations of it have been somewhat limited. The original Palm Pre launched with an induction charger which allows users to charge their device when it is laid on a special charging mat. The disadvantages of such inductive chargers is the need for near physical contact in order for the power to be transferred as well as heat/power limitations.

​

Click for Larger​

A 2007 startup company called WiTricity, however, has been working on some significant advances in wireless electricity that has gotten the attention of much of the industry including Apple. WiTricity is based on the research from MIT's labs where scientists showed a new method for transferring larger amounts of power wirelessly over more practical distances (up to a couple of meters) than traditional induction.

The magnetic fields of two properly designed devices with closely matched resonant frequencies can couple into a single continuous magnetic field. Prof. Soljacic's team showed how to use this phenomenon to enable the transfer of power from one device to the other at high efficiency and over a distance range that is useful for real-world applications.

WiTricity has already received a significant amount of industry attention. The CEO of WiTricity demoed the technology at TED in 2009. Intel has been experimenting with the technology in their labs. Toyota has even collaborated with and invested in the company to develop automotive wireless charging systems.

The link to Apple comes by way of a international patent application from Apple called "Wireless power utilization in a local computing environment." The application was first published in May of this year and specifically details the same resonance technology and refers to the original paper published by the MIT researchers.

Apple describes a scenario where your iMac could be the source of this resonance power to provide a virtual charging area in front of your computer. Keyboards, mice and even mobile electronic devices like the iPhone or iPad could be charged simply be being in a 1 meter proximity to your computer. In typical Apple fashion, they describe that "by doing away with clumsy and annoying cables and eliminating the need to replace batteries, an easy to use and efficient local computing environment can be provided to the user."

The technology is said to be safe, relying on magnetic fields. WiTricity CEO is seen above presenting the technology at the 2009 TED and even shows it wirelessly powering a modified Apple iPhone.

Of course, Apple patent applications are only occasionally predictive of the company's plans, but in light of rumors of Apple experimenting with "a new way of charging", we thought this particular technology (which is already on Apple's radar) was interesting enough to highlight.

Article Link: Apple's Interest in WiTricity Wireless Charging

 

[alectheking]

i think it's badass.

 

[sunspot42]

How Tesla

When do we get broadcast power stations, like in Gamma World?

 

[Javik]

If it wont affect our health, this is definitely the future!

 

[-Ken-]

Mmmmmm.... Cancer....

 

[wmukj]

If it wont affect our health, this is definitely the future!

I think everything does these days anyways, why not have something cool killing you.

 

[Papajohn56]

Wonder if this is safe at all for people with pacemakers.

 

[awal1987]

I am all for this but...

I dont like the idea of having something like this always using power. That would make your power bill jump like crazy. That would be awesome to have on under your desk, so when i set my trusty MBP and Droid (that's right, a Droid) they would charge. I could turn the unit on and off as needed to save power.

 

[Michael383]

The technology looks interesting.

 

[Jowl]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

Hasn't Tesla already done this? Perhaps Apple bought his patents

 

[midnightMachine]

You know, it seems cool and all, but it Florida (and other places I am told) we have a name for 'wireless electricity' ...it's called lightning.. and it likes to start fires and kill people when they get too close.

 

[MattInOz]

I'd rather have batteries than enough magnetic flux coming out of the ceiling to power a TV.

I do realize that Apple is more looking at very short range low power but still I'm sitting within 1m range for 10+hours a day. Our bodies have evolved to cope with a fairly solid daily does of lots of stuff but as I understand it most naturally occurring radiation is pretty random and the jury is still out on the long term effects of made-man modulated radiation.

Plus is it really that hard to deal with the odd cable or battery change?

 

[batchtaster]

Uh-oh. Looks like my tumor's going to get bigger. Oh well.

 

[hms84]

I don't trust it.

 

[goobot]

If i walk by after coming out of the shower will i be electrocuted? /sarcasm


Seems like very cool tec, as far as i can see the wireless part has to do with magnetic stuff right? That shouldn't effect you health if true.

 

[talkingfuture]

Read an article about this in wired a while ago. Could have a lot of potential.

 

[res1233]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I really want this. Imagine having all your computer peripherals connected via Bluetooth, and powered via WiTricity. I can see Apple as being an early adopter of this tech.

If you knew anything about apple, you'd know that it isn't so much that they implement tech later than others, rather they're very selective about the tech they DO implement. For example: Retina Display, Capacitive Multitouch, Thunderbolt, and others. The only people who claim that apple is always behind the curve are the ignorant types, such as yourself.

Ignorant? Take your ad hominem elsewhere!

Retina Display is a marketing term and nothing else, I'm not surprised you don't know this. Android has a dpi of 267 on some phones, Apple is barely ahead. Thunderbolt is not Mac exclusive, a faster port will be available in a few years on the PC market and the current ports will be like relics, think mini-display and firewire, were they "ahead of their time too?"

Well that settles it. You're just grasping. I don't enjoy having conversations with ignorants. You just said that Apple is "barely" ahead to defend your view that Apple is behind, at least that's how I read it. Try again please.

Edit: Sorry, not sure how to combine posts via this rather outdated mobile interface you guys have set up...

 

[dethmaShine]

Amazing technology, I bet it's available on Android before Apple.

What are your thoughts about this technology Arn?

Update: Go on fanboys, flag me down because you know this to be true. If it took Apple four years to implement something as simple as folders, I wouldn't hold your breath on this. And yes, this is a valid post that should remind all of us how slow Apple is to implement features. Remember how cool the iPhone 4 antennae was? Remember Antenna-gate? If you even bother to read the article, it says it's already in use by the Palm- hold on, didn't HP just buy them? Doesn't HP use Android? Sounds to me like even more evidence that it will run on Android first, this isn't necessarily a bad thing people. It's like all the people who bought the first iPad, they were the millions of guinea pigs that allowed us iPad 2 users to have the amazing feature to print. Like I said, Apple isn't always on their game.

Maybe it's a good thing, wouldn't want to get cancer now would we?

I bet it will be on Android before it stops to lag. You can count on that.

 

[4np]

Sounds like you won't be able to reliably use your built in compass in the near future in your own house, or in densely populated areas...

While an interesting technology, I'm a bit skeptical towards the idea of transmitting the energy to power your home appliances using magnetic fields throughout your living room... They say it is safe, but so did the people who made or produced DDT, Asbestos or Thalidomide....

 

[partyBoy]

Awesome !

 

[res1233]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Sounds like you won't be able to reliably use your built in compass in the near future in your own house, or in densely populated areas...

While an interesting technology, I'm a bit skeptical towards the idea of transmitting the energy to power your home appliances using magnetic fields throughout your living room... They say it is safe, but so did the people who made or produced DDT, Asbestos or Thalidomide....

Everything is safe until they discover otherwise, so it is very hard to say. However, magnetic fields are not likely to cause any harm due to the fact that the earth is a giant electromagnet. I think it's safe.

 

[Man4allsea]

Dumb and dangerous

The idea of exposing people all over to magnetic fields is about the dumbest idea I ever heard of.
The idea the because we can't observe the effect, that it doesn't exist, is also stupid.
I am a physician who frequently works with high magnetic fields, that are tuned to the body, we induce currents in people. you can feel it. This is not proven safe, and needs many decades of research to prove it won't hurt us, specifically unborn children whose rapidly dividing cells are particularly susceptible to all sorts of perturbations.
We should learn to live with the petty inconveniences of hiding wires.

 

[Jerome Morrow]

The idea of exposing people all over to magnetic fields is about the dumbest idea I ever heard of.

You are exposed to magnetic fields every day.

 

[CFreymarc]

When do we get broadcast power stations, like in Gamma World?

Someone beat me to it. Yes, Tesla had broadcast power going a hundred years ago. In fact he has an electric car running off broadcast power. People were baffled when no one could see any power supply in the car and just an electric motor and an "odd antenna" that was taking the power out of the air. The biggest problem with broadcast power is efficiency and monetary exchange.

First, when you broadcast energy, a lot is dropped off the square of the distance between the transmitter and the source.

Second, if you think neighbors stealing WiFi access is bad, how about them tapping your power supply? While you can encrypt WiFi access, you cannot encrypt raw power coming out of a source. Any good autotuner can find the harmonic and run off that.

IMO, this is not going to go far and I'm amazed so many are trying to bring this back.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

If you knew anything about apple, you'd know that it isn't so much that they implement tech later than others, rather they're very selective about the tech they DO implement. For example: Retina Display, Capacitive Multitouch, Thunderbolt, and others. The only people who claim that apple is always behind the curve are the ignorant types, such as yourself.

You forgot how they implemented Blu-ray and USB 3.0, as well as esata ports. My personal favorite though, is that I can use IR to print directly to my printer, just my placing my laptop in front of it.

I didn't. Apple has made it clear that optical media is, in their view, on its way out. I think they're right about that.

Now you're just cherry-picking what is advanced technology, as opposed to obsolite technology.


Back on topic..

I don't like this. Sure the earth is a giant electromagnet, but our bodies have evolved to coexist with it. There's research that honey-bees get disoriented by magnetic waves, and the honey-bee brain isn't so different from the human brain. Additionally, there's a report floating around there that trees are effected by Wi-Fi (a sort of electromagnetic wave) routers.

Should I go on? Human's get a less-rested sleep when they sleep next to their cellphone. When 2 humans sleep next to each other, their sleep patters can match up. Researchers even found that you can increase performance of math tests by subjecting the brain to intense magnetic radiation.

I for one will pass on our wireless-charging overlords.