[clug] [OT] uBeam - wireless charging stations (ultrasonics, 50kHz)

[Ben Nizette]

On 03/06/2011, at 11:30 AM, Arjen Lentz wrote:

> Hi Steve
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From the 'allthingsd' D9 conference.
>> Solves a universal problem ("Oh No, I've forgotten my charger").
>> Did they win a UPenn innovation contest?
>> 
>> "UBeam, a company co-founded by recent University of Pennsylvania
>> graduates Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck, thinks it may have a
>> solution: Wireless charging stations."
> 
> It's not entirely new. Several years ago there was a startup doing this as well, essentially using an induction coil and they had a simple modification which made pretty much any mobile work with it. Doing it efficiently means adding some extra magic with frequency and such, and that appears to be what current research (and product) development is focusing on.

You mean the one you saw was induction charging?  They're the only ones I'd seen up till now as well.

This one is ultrasound, though I don't know why anyone would use it (and too lazy to read the web site!).

> 
> The company that had it first appeared at the time to not take the swift way to market properly - I don't remember their name right now, but it appears that others have caught up with them anyhow.
> 
> Given that mobiles are going to charge from USB (with the EU directive enforcing that) it not only means no more plug-mess, but it also means they'll all eat a standardised 5V in. So at least for mobiles, modifying them to deal with plug-less charging is going to be easy.

The Xi Collaboration is a step in this direction that actually has a bit of momentum, hope to see good quality inductive charging in the next year or two!

	--Ben.

> 
> Cheers,
> Arjen.
> -- 
> Arjen Lentz, Exec.Director @ Open Query (http://openquery.com)
> Remote expertise & maintenance for MySQL/MariaDB server environments.
> 
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