Wireless power could revolutionize highway transportation

[MikeD]

This may not be completely new, but may still be of some interest
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/february/wireless-vehicle-charge-020112.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Dennisj00]

This may not be completely new, but may still be of some interest
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/february/wireless-vehicle-charge-020112.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you think getting public charging stations is currently slow and expensive, think about the cost and economics of the installation of this type of charging.

 

[tps]

I can see something like this along a toll road such as the PA Turnpike, which would have the money (had the state legislature not siphoned them away) to fund such a project.

 

[ebill3]

I can see something like this along a toll road such as the PA Turnpike, which would have the money (had the state legislature not siphoned them away) to fund such a project.

Sorry, OT.

The PA Turnpike Commission had money? Man, I remember it as being rater poorly maintained, at least once you got west of Carlisle and into the mountains. Of course, that has been 20 years ago, so maybe things have changed.

I do remember the 1940(?) opening of the original section while living in Danville.

 

[LakeLeaf]

Using mathematical simulations, postdoctoral scholars Xiaofang Yu and Sunil Sandhu found the answer: A coil bent at a 90-degree angle and attached to a metal plate can transfer 10 kilowatts of electrical energy to an identical coil 6.5 feet away.

"That's fast enough to maintain a constant speed," Fan said. "To actually charge the car battery would require arrays of coils embedded in the road. This wireless transfer scheme has an efficiency of 97 percent."

A constant speed of what? Seems hard to believe this would be a workable solution with cars going 70+ MPH - regardless of how many coils they embedded in the road.

But I bet the researcher generated enough press to have the next grant proposal or two get a second look :lol:

 

[Herm]

10kW wont do much, perhaps a 55mph steady cruise.. but it would extend your range tremendously if you drove at a moderate speed of 60-65mph. It would allow very long ranges with small batteries.

50kW would make long distance large trucks possible.

 

[Rusty]

10kW wont do much, perhaps a 55mph steady cruise..

And at 97% efficiency, that would only be 300 watts of leakage. Just think how the folks that worry about milliwatts of cellphone energy or high tension power lines would feel about a hundred or more watts of spare RF running around right under their feet.

The article doesn't say what frequency they're using (probably not 60 Hz, since that'd require too big a resonator to build a tank circuit in a car). But it does say:

Although a power transfer efficiency of 97 percent is extremely high, Beiker and his colleagues want to be sure that the remaining 3 percent is lost as heat and not as potentially harmful radiation.

Uh yeah. A spare 300 watts of heat energy dissipated into a human body should mean at least you won't need a seat heater. I'll grant that most of the leakage energy would probably go into heating the coil, but still... And the article even includes a rousing endorsement of:

"In the MIT experiment, the magnetic field appeared to have no impact on people who stood between the coils," Fan said. "That's very important in terms of safety. "

Oooo! Pick me to be the study candidate for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week testing! There's no apparent impact on people in a brief period of testing a 60 watt bulb, Q.E.D. it's absolutely safe.

Grant hunter.

Small gap inductive charging (like in a garage setting, where the coils can be moved very close to each other) seems like a workable solution. Driving above an inductor with a several inch air gap (where the inverse cube law doesn't help so much)? Not so much...

 

[garygid]

I believe there are lots of problems with this system.
Cost is only one issue.
Driving on rails is more likely.

Guestimate the system per lane-mile cost. Perhaps a coil every 5 feet = 1000 coils per mile. Then, at a VERY LOW $1000 per coil (would more likely be 10 times that considering constuction, geting power, and controlling the system), would be $1,000,000 per lane mile, for one lane. Probably more like $10,000,000, but call it $5M per mile for round numbers.

Then, perhaps 300,000 miles of major road gives us $1.5 Trillion (still only one lane on major roads).

Now, 5 QCs at each station, and a station every 10 miles over the same roads, is only 30,000 stations, at about $1,000,000 each => only 30 billion instead of 1500 billion.

But, the technical issues are quite substantial.

 

[Herm]

The Interstate Highway System is 46k miles long.. and electrifying one lane (the right lane) is all you need... perhaps go to two lanes in high traffic areas near cities. You still need a battery for local driving.

 

[Nubo]

Actually I think Jeremy Clarkson's idea of draping chicken wire over the roadway and turning vehicles into "Dodgem Cars" is probably more practical than this idea. :lol:

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

in May of 2011, Carpenter Road in Lacey WA between Pacific Ave and Martin Way went thru some sort of construction (i think it was to upgrade storm drains or something)

a stretch of a mile. they really dug up the place and all traffic was blocked (there were a few residents that were allowed in but guessing it was like a 20 minute delay getting in and out. to this date, about a third of the road has been repaved.

now, you are suggesting we retrofit the 40,000 miles of freeway for this option which would including running power to each of these sensors? that would take CENTURIES and trillions of dollars. sure sounds good but it will NEVER happen. its simply too much money.

 

[Herm]

Its amazing we ever get bridges and roads built in this country, its the reason all those Model T still get stuck in mud when they venture 10 miles out of Detroit