Nowadays, it seems like almost everything we use needs to be charged.
Our phones, tablets, laptops, but also electric toothbrushes and other hygiene products, cameras... almost everything needs to be charged and plugged in all the time.
Wouldn't it be so much easier if we could just charge all of these things wirelessly?
Wireless charging is not an entirely new concept, and it's slowly being commercialized - but how exactly does it work?

How it works

The idea of wireless power transmission first came from Nikola Tesla in the 19th century. He already had the idea that you could transfer power through an electromagnetic field - and he was right.

Imagine a loop of numerous coiled wires around a bar magnet (the inductor).

When the electric current now passes through these coiled wires, an electromagnetic field is being created around the area of the magnet.
Now, a device like your phone can be charged within the radius of that electromagnetic field.
When a device comes close, the flux of that device interacts with the flux from the charging station, basically it makes the electrons move and allows the battery to be charged.

Challenges

This type of charging has been used for electric toothbrushes for decades - but there are a few challenges:

1.) Proximity

The electromagnetic field is limited in size, so the object you want to charge has to stay relatively close to your charging station.

2.) Efficiency

The reason why wireless charging was only used for small devices is that it's not very efficient.
It's much easier to just plug in a device directly, instead of having two coils that 'communicate' with each other - this decreases the efficiency.

Improvements and current status

Scientists are working hard to improve wireless charging, because it's obviously a lot more hassle-free and could become very popular in the future.
Nowadays, they have managed to make the coils a lot flatter, so that many more loops can wrap around a tiny magnet.
This means that devices like smartwatches or smartphones can now be charged wirelessly, which obviously takes up a lot more power than a simple toothbrush.
Also, they have managed to install transmitters into the charging stations and devices - this ensures that only the correct device is being charged, and not random other objects.

IKEA Range for Wirelessly Charging Furniture

Futuristic Outlook

Wireless smartphone charging has become a lot more popular - Ikea has come out with a range of wirelessly-charging furniture, and many Starbucks Cafés are offering wireless charging via a ring connector already.
Future projects even include charging electric buses wirelessly - maybe this will extend to regular electric cars soon?
If we manage to overcome the challenge of productivity, we would soon be able to charge/power even the largest devices wirelessly.

Imagine a life completely without tangled wires everywhere! Wouldn't that be awesome?

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

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Sirwinchester