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Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

venturebeat.com

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Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#51

Post by rybosome »

tedsanders wrote: post #16
nxzero wrote: post #3

Work on wireless power transfer has been going on over 100-years, even Tesla worked on it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_power_transfer Hard to imagine this being mainstream anytime soon. Is there any reason to believe this will become mainstream in the near future?

As a physicist, I am similarly skeptical. It seems quite unlikely to me that wireless power will take off within our lifetimes. However, if it does happen, I suspect it will be because of one of the following hypotheses: (1) Electronics continue to become more energy efficient, to the point that a tiny wireless power trickle is sufficient to run them (2) Perhaps computers will be an enabling technology, both in desig…

I think that one of the NVRAM solutions in development like Intel and Micron's 3D xpoint might have lower power consumption per GB than DRAM given the non-volatility and thus the obviated need to continually refresh the value. So if we were to see DRAM replaced by NVRAM (or at least augmented, where all but the most critical data were shuffled from DRAM -> NVRAM each time the screen locked), that might be a pathway.

I tried to find some numbers on this, but this is outside of my area of expertise. Would love to hear somebody more knowledgable weigh in.

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#52

Post by 2AF3 »

dantiberian wrote: post #44

Paul Reynolds, who worked at uBeam, demolishes Energous planned business model through physics [1] [2]. My opinion (and a lot of other investors) is that Energous is a scam [3] [4]. Their device cannot get FCC approval to transmit at the levels that they need to to send power, so it's a complete non-starter. [1]: http://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.co.nz/2016/04/those-other-g... [2]: http://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.co.…

Do you think uBeam is also a scam / impossible technology to deliver?

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#53

Post by hackuser »

tedsanders wrote: post #16
nxzero wrote: post #3

Work on wireless power transfer has been going on over 100-years, even Tesla worked on it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_power_transfer Hard to imagine this being mainstream anytime soon. Is there any reason to believe this will become mainstream in the near future?

As a physicist, I am similarly skeptical. It seems quite unlikely to me that wireless power will take off within our lifetimes. However, if it does happen, I suspect it will be because of one of the following hypotheses: (1) Electronics continue to become more energy efficient, to the point that a tiny wireless power trickle is sufficient to run them (2) Perhaps computers will be an enabling technology, both in desig…

What about it makes you skeptical? Stop holding out on us ... :)

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#54

Post by simcop2387 »

mikeyouse wrote: post #46
comex wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waste is relative. A smartphone uses around 1% the electricity per year of a refrigerator; I don't know if upping that even to, say, 10% would make all that much difference in the grand scheme of things.

Because I'm slow at work.. If we say the new generation iPhones have a 3,000mah battery, batteries are charged fully once per day, and that 100 million people in the US have iPhones: 3,000mah x 3.8v = 11.4 watt-hours to fully charge a phone -- at $0.15/kWh, this equates to a daily expense of ~$0.002 to charge your phone. Annually, this is $0.62. If wireless charging were 50% efficient, it would still cost under a dol…

Actually a 50% efficiency loss would double the energy requirements to 800+ billion watt hours. Your original calculation is right for 100% efficiency in charging over wires.

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#55

Post by [deleted] »

2AF3 wrote: post #52
dantiberian wrote: post #44

Paul Reynolds, who worked at uBeam, demolishes Energous planned business model through physics [1] [2]. My opinion (and a lot of other investors) is that Energous is a scam [3] [4]. Their device cannot get FCC approval to transmit at the levels that they need to to send power, so it's a complete non-starter. [1]: http://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.co.nz/2016/04/those-other-g... [2]: http://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.co.…

Do you think uBeam is also a scam / impossible technology to deliver?

[deleted]

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#56

Post by mikeyouse »

simcop2387 wrote: post #54
mikeyouse wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I'm slow at work.. If we say the new generation iPhones have a 3,000mah battery, batteries are charged fully once per day, and that 100 million people in the US have iPhones: 3,000mah x 3.8v = 11.4 watt-hours to fully charge a phone -- at $0.15/kWh, this equates to a daily expense of ~$0.002 to charge your phone. Annually, this is $0.62. If wireless charging were 50% efficient, it would still cost under a dol…

Actually a 50% efficiency loss would double the energy requirements to 800+ billion watt hours. Your original calculation is right for 100% efficiency in charging over wires.

Ah! Good point. I can't edit but double the turbines.

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#57

Post by nsaje »

lj3 wrote: post #49
seanalltogether wrote: post #19

My favorite is still the cradle with contact pins that were on the original nexus one phones, no need to plug anything in, no need to align with magnetic grippers, just drop it in the cradle and it worked. Why did that ever go away?

Protective covers. Most are too thick to work with a cradle designed for a naked phone. Making a cradle with an adjustable width and depth is, apparently, either too difficult or too expensive.

What about spring-loaded retractable pins? They'd automatically adjust to any case thickness.

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#58

Post by MrQuincle »

raverbashing wrote: post #22
adevine wrote: post #15

My understanding, though, is that all of these wireless charging solutions are significantly less efficient that wired power. Even if it's, say, 10% less efficient, that's a huge, huge waste of energy on a large scale if this technology becomes popular.

10% less efficient? I think charging my phone loses about 5% in thermal losses at the connector (because it gets warm) 10% is both not important (in this context) and unfortunately optimistic

And this does not even consider the counterfeit adapters many people use. I think wireless might be more efficient than many badly designed adapters.

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#59

Post by satysin »

usaphp wrote: post #31
satysin wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yay a proprietary changing protocol so I will need how many different wireless charging stations? Sigh.

People complain that they don't innovate and also complain that they don't use standards, you can't innovate while using standards I think

Of course you can. Look at the web.

Re: Apple is working with Energous on wireless charging

#60

Post by loteck »

ProAm wrote: post #38
adevine wrote: post #15

My understanding, though, is that all of these wireless charging solutions are significantly less efficient that wired power. Even if it's, say, 10% less efficient, that's a huge, huge waste of energy on a large scale if this technology becomes popular.

Not only is it inefficient but I believe the heat produced while charging seriously degrades the battery and reduces it's expected lifespan.

Why do you believe this?
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