Daily Mail Engineers at Duke University have designed a breakthrough gadget that ‘harvests’ background microwave radiation and converts it into electricity, with the same efficiency as solar panels.
The development, unveiled on Thursday, raises exciting possibilities such as recharging a phone wirelessly and providing power to remote locations that can’t access conventional electricity.
And the researchers say that their inexpensive invention is remarkably versatile. It could be used to capture ‘lost’ energy from a range of sources such as satellite transmissions, sound signals or Wi-Fi.
The future: The device that is capable of harvesting microwave signals from the air consists of five fiberglass and copper conductors wired together on a circuit board
The Duke engineers used metamaterials, which their press release describes as ‘engineered structures that can capture various forms of wave energy and tune them for useful applications.’
They say the device harvested microwaves with an efficiency of 36.8 percent, similar to modern solar cells that capture light energy.
A report that will appear in the journal Applied Physics Letters in December states that this invention is capable of converting microwave signals to enough direct current voltage to recharge a cell phone battery.
The gadget, created by undergraduate engineering student Allen Hawkes, graduate student Alexander Katko and lead investigator Steven Cummer, consists of five fiberglass and copper conductors wired together on a circuit board.
It is capable of providing 7.3V of electricity. As the press release points out, current USB chargers provide around 5V.
Hawkes said: ‘We were aiming for the highest energy efficiency we could achieve. We had been getting energy efficiency around 6 to 10 percent, but with this design we were able to dramatically improve energy conversion to 37 percent, which is comparable to what is achieved in solar cells.’
Proud: Alexander Katko (left) and Allen Hawkes (right) pioneered the breakthrough. ‘It’s possible to use this design for a lot of different frequencies and types of energy, including vibration and sound energy harvesting,’ said Katko
His colleague, Katko, added: ‘It’s possible to use this design for a lot of different frequencies and types of energy, including vibration and sound energy harvesting.
‘Until now, a lot of work with metamaterials has been theoretical. We are showing that with a little work, these materials can be useful for consumer applications.’
Possible uses for the new technology include building metamaterial into homes to ensure Wi-Fi signals are not just lost.
Electrical products could also have a device attached to increase efficiency by ensuring that excess power is not wasted.
In theory, the invention could also be used to beam signals from phone towers that could then be converted into electricity.
Electronic devices could be recharged wirelessly or electricity sent to remote areas without power cables.
Power: The device harvested microwaves with an efficiency of 36.8 percent, similar to the solar cells installed on this California home in a file photo
The researchers explained that a series of the power-harvesters could even capture signals from satellites passing overhead.
This could allow for electricity in hostile environments such as mountaintops or deserts. Cummer said: ‘Our work demonstrates a simple and inexpensive approach to electromagnetic power harvesting.
‘The beauty of the design is that the basic building blocks are self-contained and additive. One can simply assemble more blocks to increase the scavenged power.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2493931/New-device-harvests-electricity-background-radiation-like-Wi-Fi.html#ixzz2kB35ayeC
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In 1936, in NYC, in front of hundreds of onlookers and Industry representatives, Tesla demonstrated the following:
He put a 75hp “electric” motor in a car – ran two wires through the firewall to the front seat – went to the “corner hardware store” and bought some vac. tubes and some electrical parts – assembled them in a box the size of a shoe box with two small metal rods protruding from the box – sat it on the front seat in between him and his son, attached the two wires to the two rods – pushed the rods down and said – now we have power.
He ran the car for over a week on “nothing” but that shoe box and electric motor at speeds of up to 90mph. Tesla said that the energy or power is taken from both the sun’s rays and the magnetic flux of gravity – a 24 hr source of power and electricity. Tesla said that you can run your car or house on this shoe box for near every.
The newspapers and media of the time which was owned by the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Morgans, etc – smeared Tesla as a fake, in league with the devil and foolery, etc. Tesla was so mad he just took his invention and buried it. It seems that the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Morgans and the likes would be out of business, including the whole petroleum industry.
Come up with something real and attainable, workable and replacing any power company’s, oil company’s, and their banksters – you are dead meat, guaranteed.
Telsa + Hemp = jews worst nightmare.
LOL.
At Some Point…….in Time, I can’t say if its exactly Now………
Dylan’s song………
“The Times They Are A-Changin”
2nd verse….
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with you pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon………
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a changin’
This musical piece
Will Be Relevant………and ………I Think, become reality….
Even in the form of every day energy use……….
Now! I got to live that long to see it!
So they finally figured out how to replicate Telsa’s work.
Look for these two too disappear.