Is there any research being directed into electrical transmission via RF?

Question

Like Tesla was doing. As it appears Tesla first wanted to switch from DC to AC and he was ridiculed by Thomas Edison. Then he found RF and found a way for it to resonate with the Earth, but J.P. Morgan put an end because you couldn't put a meter on it, and someone else stole the spotlight for transmission of an RF signal across the Atlantic. However, if energy had been converted to RF, we would be able to have flying cars, and many other RF powered devices because we wouldn't need transmission wires.

Answer 1

No.  Not at all.  The idea of open field transmission of electric power at utility volumes was discredited almost 100 years ago, and nobody gives it a thought nowadays.  It was the biggest problem Tesla encountered (other than his hatred of women), and it frequently got him pictured as a quack, because he never let go of his belief in wireless electric transmission, while the rest of the scientific community realized it was not feasible.

As at MIT, it still crops up once in a while as a laboratory curiosity, but that's all it will ever be.

Answer 2

several years ago some people kept an electric plane up for several weeks by transmitting micro waves uo from the ground then converting them back o electricity. never heard anything since.

Answer 3

Transmission lines are necessary due to the inverse-square law. Power density of a radiation field is always proportional to 1/(4*pi*r^2). This makes power transmission over the air very inefficient, unless the radiation field is monochromatic and coherent (laser). Also, small impedances due to physical geometries in physicals circuits become significant at high frequencies, making it difficult to match circuits. I do know that research is being conducted using lasers, but generating coherent radiation at RF frequencies is difficult, due to it's low energy. There are hydrogen masers, although I'm not sure what energy levels they can produce, and I'm sure they're quite large.

Answer 4

I'm a bit confused, are you referring to wireless energy? If so, the I'm afraid to say that in the sense you're likely thinking of, its not possible. using RF to create wireless energy is like shining a uv light bulb onto a solar panel to power something, its not transmitting the electricity, but rather the energy in the form of light. the problem with this is efficiency, the light bulb is not 100% efficient, and the solar panel is likely around 15% efficient, so you end up with FAR less energy than when you started.

at the flying car thing, if you used electricity, you would need big, heavy electric motors, far to heavy to be used in a flying car, you'd be much better off using gas motors in a flying car even with wireless power

Answer 5

yes MIT has done it, and infact it already works, (in short range, about 8 feet), the idea is you put a device in the room which outputs your RF and then you have your appliances hooked up to a converted which covnerts the RF to engery, obviosely alot more complex, but they have done it, and it does work... but I am sure it has not been released yet because it probably waste gigantic ammounts of power and is not yet proven to be safe.