Nikola Tesla's vision of wireless power transmission is alive with Kiwi startup Emrod

[Cal Jeffrey]

History lesson: In 1890, Nikola Tesla caused a total blackout in the town of Colorado Springs using a 140-foot Tesla coil. Creating a citywide power outage was not his goal. He wanted to power a light bulb that was more than two miles away without using wires. Much to the dismay and anger of residents and the power plant, whose dynamo was burned out, the experiment was claimed to be a success, a claim that later proved to be debatable.

Now more than 100 years later, an energy startup called Emrod wants to bring Tesla's dream of wireless power transmission to life. The New Zealand company has partnered with one of the country's primary power distributors to build a wireless electricity infrastructure that it believes can deliver power more efficiently than traditional methods.

The system uses a series of transmission antennas, relays, and a receiving rectenna, short for "rectifying antenna." The rectenna converts microwaves into electricity. The only limitation on the system is that each relay and antenna must have line of sight. Even with that limitation, Emrod says that the infrastructure will cost a fraction of what it would take to construct and maintain a wired system.

The transmission system is supposedly immune to adverse weather and atmospheric conditions. As long as not physical structures block the line of sight, the system should transmit electricity thousands of kilometers. This trait makes it ideal for moving power from offshore facilities or plugging a windmill or solar farm into the power grid.

There is no timeline for when Emrod will have a practical application in place. It is currently spending resources on lab work, with a field trial expected once it perfects the system at close range. I'm no electrical engineer, but I can see problems with signal degradation and energy loss as each relay receives and transmits the microwaves. It's unclear if Emrod has a way over such hurdles.

*If you are interested in reading more about Nikola Tesla and the Colorado Springs incident mentioned in the intro, PBS has a good writeup giving all the details.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/86543-nikola-tesla-vision-wireless-power-transmission-alive-kiwi.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

People claiming 5G kills...yet they are anxious to have wireless power???

 

[bviktor]

C&C Red Alert <3

 

[kiwigraeme]

People claiming 5G kills...yet they are anxious to have wireless power???

radar tan lines are nice - supposedly living within 100 metres of high power transmission lines isn't great ( still might be better than living near a loud noisy active road ). Still those lines must be good for stealing some power with induction- without the lines company knowing you are doing it - unlike a std line.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

radar tan lines are nice - supposedly living within 100 metres of high power transmission lines isn't great ( still might be better than living near a loud noisy active road ). Still those lines must be good for stealing some power with induction- without the lines company knowing you are doing it - unlike a std line.

Tesla wanted free, clean energy for everyone.

So naturally the system made sure he died penniless.

 

[seeprime]

People claiming 5G kills...yet they are anxious to have wireless power???

That system is simply building many very large lightning rods. Will it be able to withstand very powerful repeated lightning strikes without any failures?

 

[VitalyT]

People claiming 5G kills...yet they are anxious to have wireless power???

Yeah, but it kills faster, more efficiently, comes with rectenna - something for your rectum.

 

[Uncle Al]

Tesla wanted free, clean energy for everyone.

So naturally the system made sure he died penniless.

The system didn't cause him to be penniless, he did. Giving up his Westinghouse patents was extremely stupid. He could have easily lessen the return or give George Westinghouse a 5-10 reprieve on the payout. Tesla made and lost many fortunes .... he simply was not a savvy businessman.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The system didn't cause him to be penniless, he did. Giving up his Westinghouse patents was extremely stupid. He could have easily lessen the return or give George Westinghouse a 5-10 reprieve on the payout. Tesla made and lost many fortunes .... he simply was not a savvy businessman.

I don't believe the "official" reasons why he went penniless.

Afterall, the people writing the story aren't gonna snitch on themselves if they did cheat him.

Every single "energy" and "format" decision turned into a WAR.

 

[havok585]

The system didn't cause him to be penniless, he did. Giving up his Westinghouse patents was extremely stupid. He could have easily lessen the return or give George Westinghouse a 5-10 reprieve on the payout. Tesla made and lost many fortunes .... he simply was not a savvy businessman.

Yea keep believing the "official" BS they said about Tesla, when in reality if you bother to hear what he had to say back in the day, with all the patents and inventions he made and the buyers that promised to make his vision true just to go behind his back and do a 180 on him.

 

[Uncle Al]

Yea keep believing the "official" BS they said about Tesla, when in reality if you bother to hear what he had to say back in the day, with all the patents and inventions he made and the buyers that promised to make his vision true just to go behind his back and do a 180 on him.

The "official BS" you quote came out of several of Tesla's own publications. Perhaps you are the one that needs to spend more time reading ......

 

[Endymio]

While this company's design may be practical and even cost-efficient, compared to the cost of maintaining wired distribution over ocean waters, I have a difficult time believing it is more efficient than an HVDC line.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Ehh. This has very little to do with Tesla's experiments, and presenting it as such is very disingenuous.

Tesla's work was based on using electromagnetic fields to transmit power omnidirectionally. This is using X-rays directionally to transmit power. Completely different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, using completely different methods.

 

[neeyik]

Tesla's work was based on using electromagnetic fields to transmit power omnidirectionally. This is using X-rays directionally to transmit power. Completely different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, using completely different methods.

It's using frequencies in the ISM band, so definitely not X-rays, and it's naturally not going to use Tesla's method. The reference to his work is simply about the company's aim to sell long distance wireless power transmission, just like Tesla envisaged.

 

[mbrowne5061]

It's using frequencies in the ISM band, so definitely not X-rays, and it's naturally not going to use Tesla's method.

You're right, I was thinking of X-band, which runs from 7-12GHz - which would be a good candidate for wirelessly transmitting power since it should be fairly resistant to scattering in the atmosphere, or resonating with the gases or moisture (cost efficiency and range) it will need to pass through.

ISM band - which is not officially codified by frequency by an organization like IEEE, and is instead organized by 'uses' - runs from 6.75 MHz to 244 GHz, and definitely includes X-band (historically, radars and satellite communications).

The reference to his work is simply about the company's aim to sell long distance wireless power transmission, just like Tesla envisaged.

It is disingenuous to credit Tesla for 'envisioning' it. Are you going to give credit to Da Vinci for inventing the helicopter and airplane, or are you going to cite the Wright Brothers for the plane, and Focke & Achgelis for the helicopter? Just because you imagined it first, or even were the first to attempt it, does not mean you were its inventor. Or even related in principle to the final, practical design.

Tesla tried, and failed, with electromagnetic fields being 'injected' into the earth as AC current in a standing wave, and then using a (non-existent) charged upper-layer in the atmosphere as the return. Tesla also believed that his system would be 100% self-sustaining, and require no energy input after the initial power-up (completely false, even if his theory of operation had proven to be true).

When he attempted to prove his system worked in Colorado, what actually occurred was resonant inductive coupling; 100% electromagnetism, 0% 'earth injection', 0% 'charged upper-atmosphere return' (and 0% Radio Frequency)

In fact, Tesla even doubted that RF - the technology being used by the company - even existed, never mind Tesla ever actually using it. At least Da Vinci understood which medium exactly (air) would be providing flight, if he was wrong about the exact mechanisms to make practical use of it.

Meanwhile, the company is transmitting power through the air using RF.

Including "Tesla" in the article was just a way to generate clicks, and simultaneously only serves to perpetuate the myth that Tesla was "on to something" and was shutdown by his investors 'because they would would have no way to make money on free, wireless electricity', instead of being shutdown because this idea of his was not based in any kind of functional reality.

 

[neeyik]

It is disingenuous to credit Tesla for 'envisioning' it. Are you going to give credit to Da Vinci for inventing the helicopter and airplane, or are you going to cite the Wright Brothers for the plane, and Focke & Achgelis for the helicopter? Just because you imagined it first, or even were the first to attempt it, does not mean you were its inventor. Or even related in principle to the final, practical design.

Visions and inventions are two different things. Da Vinci envisaged means of flying like a bird, but clearly wasn't the inventor of the hand glider, for example. Tesla had a vision of wireless power transmission, but as you rightly point out, his methods and thinking weren't even remotely on the right track - although he can be credited as one the first, publicly known, figures to attempt it.

Including "Tesla" in the article was just a way to generate clicks, and simultaneously only serves to perpetuate the myth that Tesla was "on to something" and was shutdown by his investors 'because they would would have no way to make money on free, wireless electricity', instead of being shutdown because this idea of his was not based in any kind of functional reality.

I think you're reading far too much into any of this. At no point does the news article suggest that this is somehow a copy or corrected version of Tesla's work. It references him because his name is associated with the concept of wireless power transmission, just as the likes of Da Vinci is associated the concepts of manned flight, tanks, and helicopters - and nothing more than that.

If Emrod are ultimately successful in their goal, and its utilisation becomes widespread, then it'll be their name that's forever associated with the technology. Just as the Wright brothers are with manned flight, despite the fact they weren't the first to achieve it. However, I cannot image any article about flight technology that reference their achievements, would be criticised for doing so - if anything, it's almost expected.