Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Power Sheet Provides Flexible Wireless Electricity
A power sheet consisting of plastic and flexible electronics can power electronic devices placed upon it. The prototype was designed by Takao Someya, professor of engineering at the University of Tokyo.
(Flexible power sheet)
The power sheet uses the familiar principle of electromagnetic induction, but this new design overcomes limitations of traditional systems, which spread small amounts of power over relatively large surfaces.
The power sheet system consists of two types of sheets; one sheet senses the position of an object (like a gadget) placed upon it, and the other provides power to the object's point of contact, but not to the rest of the sheet. "In this way, the system selectively feeds power as high as 30 watts to electronic objects placed upon it," Someya says.
Flexible, printed electronics provides the basis for the two sheets. An array of copper coils ten millimeters in diameter is printed on one sheet with a silkscreening-like technique; organic transistors are printed on the sheet using a modified inkjet printer.
Your favorite gadget would have to be equipped with a coil and special power-harvesting circuitry to use the power sheet. As you move the gadget closer to the pad, the electrical resistance of the pad's coils decreases. The array of transistors detects the exact position of the change in resistance and effectively directs the subsequent power flow, which is provided by devices on the second sheet of plastic.
This second power-supplying sheet has an array of switches and copper coils. The plastic and silver switches turn the electric current on and off, mediating its flow to the adjacent copper coil.
Someya states frankly that it will take about five years to overcome the remaining technical issues. His ultimate goal? To produce really big sheets, as big as your wall-to-wall carpeting or the wallpaper in your living room. The power in your house will then exist wherever you place a suitably equipped gadget; no more power outlets or power cords.
For another take on the problem of powering small devices as flexibly as possible, see the previous article Wireless Power For Laptops, Cellphones?.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/15/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.' - FL Wallace, 1955.
MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.' - Nat Schachner, 1937.
Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.' - Paul Ernst, 1936.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?
Factories In The Sky Will Surpass Those Of Earth
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
