Wireless electricity demonstrated at CES could make power cables a thing of the past

The wireless transfer of electricity from power sources to devices could become a reality with innovative technology being demonstrated at home-tech event International CES in Las Vegas from January 6-9.

Fulton Innovation, an exhibiting company at CES, has developed a wireless power technology known as 'eCoupled' which is capable of transferring power from source to destination without the need for wires.

This technology works on the principal of 'near-field resonant magnetic induction', essentially this means -with the use of magnets. Electricity is transferred from one eCoupled source to another via magnetic fields rather than through the traditional wires or other conductive materials.

This power is transmitted through these magnetic fields from coils in the 'eCoupled technology', in this principal it works on a similar principal to a transformer, this power is then received by coils in another 'eCoupled enabled device'; Fulton Innovation claim that the efficiency rate of this method of wireless power transfer is 98%.

The technology is more than just a concept and has in fact been in existence for several years, having been used in Amway's eSpring water purifier and the Dell Latitude Z laptop, scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) also demonstrated the applications of this technology in 2007.  

However what makes eCoupled technology different is that the charger communicates with other 'eCoupled' enabled devices in the vicinity. The eCoupled charger monitors the power needs of eCoupled devices, charges then automatically and then shuts down once no eCoupled enabled devices are within range. The company claim that the use of 'magnetic fields' in this technology means there is little interference with other wireless devices.

The obvious implication for this technology is in overcoming special problems caused by excessive cabling-wires for TV, DVD player, games console and stereo could now be a thing of the past.

The 'eCoupled' technology is on display at International CES in Las Vegas; CES is one of the biggest events on the technology calendar and attracts over 126,000 visitors each year.  

More information about Fulton Innovation can be found at: http://fultoninnovation.com/

More information about CES can be found at: http://www.cesweb.org