Disney's new OTA charging technology has plenty of potential

by Alan Friedman / Feb 21, 2017, 1:42 PM

The folks at Disney do a lot more research than trying to figure how how much to raise theme park ticket prices. Lately, they have been looking at quasistatic cavity resonance. It is based on Nikola Tesla’s coil circuit that produces an energy field. The idea is to allow someone with a mobile device to walk into a room and have the phone in his pocket charged OTA without wires and without pads. Yes, this is a charging solution that Energous has already started to address with its WattUp product.

Disney built a mock living room to test its wireless charging technology. Devices such as a smartphone, a lamp, a remote control car and a fan were charged up by the roaming energy. 1900 watts were sent into the room; any more could be dangerous to the human body. In the middle of the room is a long copper pole containing a ring of 15 capacitors. The wall, floor and ceiling are made from aluminum panel.

When things are turned on, the current is running up and down the copper pole at a speed of 1.3 million times per second. The current goes up and down through the room, creating a circular magnetic field that travels around the pole. Multiple devices can be charged at the same time depending on the design of the receiver employed. Disney has advanced the system so that it provides power regardless of the orientation of the device. Furniture placed inside the room by Disney did not negatively affect the circulation of the energy.

Disney scientists say that the technology can be scaled down to "charging cabinets" or scaled up to huge warehouses. A lot more testing needs to be done before all of the potential of this system becomes available to the public. You can learn more about how this all works by clicking on the video at the top of the story.

Disney is working on OTA charging technology

source: DisneyResearch via EdgyLabs

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17 Comments

1. buccob

Posts: 2980; Member since: Jun 19, 2012

Finally a wireless charging tech that makes sense... Can't wait to see it implemented in buildings, cafe shops, libraries, schools, etc... nice

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 1:57 PM 2

2. Rampage_Taco

Posts: 1109; Member since: Jan 17, 2017

Who would've thought, It would be Disney making waves in the tech world

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 2:19 PM 2

4. AlikMalix unregistered

I know right?

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 2:22 PM 3

10. NarutoKage14

Posts: 1348; Member since: Aug 31, 2016

Disney is a worldwide leader in several industries.

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 3:26 PM 1

3. AlikMalix unregistered

Eagerly waiting for this. The first device that comes with over the air charging will be the new distruptive device like the iPhone was in 2007. I will switch from iPhone to a device that has over the air charging. For me that's bigger than all the features combined since 2007. It's a leap on technology that may change our entire infrastructure.

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 2:21 PM 1

15. microsoftnokiawin

Posts: 1268; Member since: Mar 30, 2012

a device like this needs infastructure to support what good is a device with over the air charging if there's no over the air chargers anywhere ???

posted on Feb 22, 2017, 8:58 AM 0

17. AlikMalix unregistered

Not saying Apple will be the one, but from what I've seen Apple is pretty good at prepping an infrastructure before putting a feature in... Hence - Apple Pay (got bunch of banks involved before releasing an iPhone with NFC), 3D Touch - 3rd party developers had apps ready before releasing an iPhone with FT). Compare that to Android: Google Wallet got blocked instead of being accepted, barely seeing any use until 2 years later when Apple added NFC payment to its ecosystem. Forcetouch on that Chinese android device does nothing outside it's own few apps - absolutely zero third party developer support even today! So, I'm not worried - 3rd party accessory market supports iPhones and iOS device quite well right from the start. But I'll reserve my discretion till I see it and I can buy it...

posted on Feb 23, 2017, 5:45 AM 0

5. Unordinary unregistered

Apple Disney Energous Tesla and that one Kickstarter campaign all have the right idea. Bring true wireless charging to the table. Not this gimmick crap that Samsung and others currently boast about.

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 2:25 PM 2

6. Rampage_Taco

The current stage of Wireless charging isn't gimmicky crap. It's more convenient using the pad when you break the charging port on your phone rather than paying upwards of $150 for a crappy refurbished device Also until this wireless tech can be shrunk down to consumer levels it won't be a viable solution in home.

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 2:38 PM 1

7. boriqua2000

Posts: 260; Member since: Mar 11, 2009

Probably going to give you cancer but at least your phone will be charged.

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 3:06 PM 4

8. cmdacos

Posts: 4331; Member since: Nov 01, 2016

I'm investing heavily in cancer drug companies.

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 3:12 PM 0

14. Zylam

Posts: 1823; Member since: Oct 20, 2010

LOLOLOL nice, wanted to say something like that but you said it better.

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 11:19 PM 0

9. NarutoKage14

Where are the Disney engineers in those pics? Seems they're scared to even go into the room seeing they used an RC car. There are people that are sensitive to EM fields produced from improperly shielded power cables and this tech would probably send them to the hospital.

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 3:23 PM 0

11. Valdomero

Posts: 704; Member since: Nov 13, 2012

What about people with pacemakers, do this technology interfere with it in any way? It's harmless to hearing aid equipment of deaf people? Also, if my device is at 100% does it continues to charge, or somehow the OS shuts down the charging receiver? Those are the first things that came up to my mind, of course there are way more to consider...

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 3:33 PM 0

12. GoTstan

Posts: 386; Member since: Jul 25, 2015

Hell to the no for me. I'm more than fine with micro usb. This cannot be good for your body

posted on Feb 21, 2017, 4:24 PM 1

13. xondk

Posts: 1904; Member since: Mar 25, 2014

Yeah, I don't see any potential problem to introducing a current into the air, that might be picked up by who knows what. I mean it sounds nice, but I don't know..