Power play
Consumer electronics giant Sony has announced it is developing a new wireless power transfer system that can transmit up to 60 Watts over a distance of half a metre.
However, this is achieved with an efficiency of around 80 percent, which is further reduced to 60 percent when a rectifier is used. The range can be increased to 80cm, without further decrease in efficiency, with the use of passive extender units.
The technology is apparently based on magnetic resonance, which requires the source and recipient devices to operate on identical resonant frequencies. Sony claims this means that even if there are metal objects between the source and recipient, no head induction occurs. Which is nice.
Sony makes the point with data transfer rapidly becoming a wireless endeavour; demand for wireless power is also growing. Dell showed off its wireless charging dock last week, but the power has a very short distance to travel. What Sony is trying to do is another thing entirely.
There were no indications given about when this technology might make an appearance in the wild, but Sony attempted to whet appetites with this image of a claimed prototype.
