Sony's Wireless TV
The Sony Corporation has announced the development of their own technology in the gambit to embrace wireless power.
Sony's transfer system eliminates the use of cables to transmit the power required for the running of electronic products. This system is able to transmit up to 60 watts of energy over 50cm, with a 60% efficiency (80% for the transmission).
The wireless power system uses magnetic resonance to produce contact-less electrical energy transfer. Magnetic resonance is used so that electromagnetic energy is transferred only to devices that have the exact same frequency as the energy source. This allows transfer efficiency to remain high even if the receiver and the transmitter are misaligned, giving more freedom of placement. Because of this resonance, even metal objects can be located between the two devices without heat induction occurring.
Display of Sony's wireless energy transfer system running an LCD screen.
Sony have many years of experience with the development of high radio frequency for wireless communications and broadcast. The developers have used this to create the new rectifier used in the system, which is both high speed and highly efficient. Because of the efficiency Sony has achieved with their rectifier the system is able to realize a total transfer efficiency of 60%. It should be mentioned that all DC appliances (like TVs, PCs and mobile phones) require the use of a rectifier, so loses are made this way regardless.
Passive extender units, that Sony has also developed, can be placed between the transmitter and receiver units to allow the transfer distance to be increased without any loss of efficiency. According to Sony, the use of a passive extender unit can extend the transfer distance from 50cm to 80cm with the same efficiency. By incorporating a passive extender unit, it enables the size of the transmitter and receivers to be reduced.
What's to like;
- It is great to see such a big player in the consumer electronics field developing this technology, meaning it shouldn't be too long until this is homes
- There are plenty of contact based wireless devices, but this so far seems to be one of the few that is using magnetic resonance to transfer the energy over a sizable air gap.
What's not to like;
- 50cm isn't quite as far as we are hoping to see this new technology reach, considering the large size of the transmitter and receiver shown in the attached picture
- Although it is good to see Sony trying to enhance the transfer distance, we don't see many real practical applications of the passive extender unit. The whole idea of wireless energy is to free up the space and remove clutter from between power source and devices adding extra boxes (no matter how minimalist in design) in between them just introduces a new form of clutter.