TEDGlobal 2009
Eric Giler: A demo of wireless electricity
艾力克基勒演示无线电力输送
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艾力克基勒希望利用无线电力输送技术将人类从有线生活中解放出来。在此他介绍了此项科学技术所能提供的服务，并展示了MIT关于此技术的突破性想法——WiTricity，一种贴近于市场并可快速为您的手机，汽车以及心脏起搏器充电的新发明。
Eric Giler - Wireless electrician
As the CEO of MIT-inspired WiTricity, Eric Giler has a plan to beam electric power through the air to wirelessly power your laptop or recharge your car. You may never plug in again. Full bio
As the CEO of MIT-inspired WiTricity, Eric Giler has a plan to beam electric power through the air to wirelessly power your laptop or recharge your car. You may never plug in again. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:12
Early visions of wireless power
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无线电力的早期设想
00:16
actually were thought of by Nikola Tesla
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主要来自于尼古拉·特斯拉
00:19
basically about 100 years ago.
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大约在一百年前
00:21
The thought that
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问题在于
00:23
you wouldn't want to transfer electric power wirelessly,
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你并不需要无线输送电力
00:26
no one ever thought of that.
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甚至没有人想到过这一点
00:28
They thought, "Who would use it if you didn't?"
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他们想：“如果连做都做不出来，谁还会用呢？”
00:30
And so, in fact, he actually set about
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因此，他开始着手于
00:33
doing a variety of things.
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进行一系列探索工作
00:35
Built the Tesla coil. This tower was built
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建造特斯拉线圈。这座塔建立在
00:37
on Long Island back at the beginning of the 1900s.
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20世纪初的长岛上
00:41
And the idea was, it was supposed to be able to transfer power
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此项设想在于，它将能够把电力
00:43
anywhere on Earth.
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输送到世界上任何一个角落
00:45
We'll never know if this stuff worked. Actually, I think the
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我们也许永远不会知道这能否成功。事实上我认为
00:47
Federal Bureau of Investigation
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依据联邦调查局的调查结果
00:49
took it down for security purposes,
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这个项目基于安全原因被关闭了
00:51
sometime in the early 1900s.
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这还是在20世纪早期的某些时候
00:54
But the one thing that did come out of electricity
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但是我们从中发现
00:56
is that we love this stuff so much.
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我们喜欢上了这个项目（理念）
00:58
I mean, think about how much we love this.
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想想到底我们有多喜欢它
01:00
If you just walk outside, there are trillions of dollars
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当你走出门，会发现在世界上
01:04
that have been invested in infrastructure around the world,
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有亿万美元被投资于基础设施中
01:06
putting up wires to get power from where it's created
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铺设电缆，将电力从其被创造的场所
01:09
to where it's used.
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输送到被使用的场所
01:11
The other thing is, we love batteries.
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另外一点是，我们喜欢电池
01:14
And for those of us that have an environmental element to us,
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对于我们来说，这在环境上的影响是
01:18
there is something like 40 billion
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每年在世界上约有
01:20
disposable batteries built every year
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四百亿节电池被废弃
01:22
for power that, generally speaking,
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一般而言，电池
01:24
is used within a few inches or a few feet
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仅仅是在几英寸或几英尺的范围内使用
01:27
of where there is very inexpensive power.
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而且使用成本极低
01:29
So, before I got here,
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所以在我继续演讲之前
01:32
I thought, "You know, I am from North America.
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我想：“你们知道，我来自北美。
01:34
We do have a little bit of a reputation in the United States."
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我们在美国确实有一些声誉。”
01:37
So I thought I'd better look it up first.
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所以我想最好先看一看
01:39
So definition number six is the North American
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数字六的定义
01:42
definition of the word "suck."
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在北美被定义为“恶心”
01:45
Wires suck, they really do.
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电缆真令人恶心，确实如此
01:47
Think about it. Whether that's you in that picture
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想一想，在这幅照片中的是否是你
01:50
or something under your desk.
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或是位于你桌下的什么东西
01:52
The other thing is, batteries suck too.
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另一件事是，电池也非常令人恶心
01:55
And they really, really do.
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它们真的很恶心
01:57
Do you ever wonder what happens to this stuff?
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你曾想过如何处理这些恶心的家伙吗？
01:59
40 billion of these things built.
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整整四百亿节
02:01
This is what happens.
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而这正是在我们周围发生的一切
02:03
They fall apart, they disintegrate,
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它们被取下来，被拆分
02:05
and they end up here.
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最终在此得到处理
02:07
So when you talk about expensive power,
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当你谈论昂贵的电力时，即
02:10
the cost per kilowatt-hour
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为电池或者其他东西提供电力时
02:14
to supply battery power to something
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每千瓦小时成本
02:16
is on the order of two to three hundred pounds.
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大约是二三百英镑
02:19
Think about that.
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想一想
02:21
The most expensive grid power in the world
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世界上最贵的电力网络
02:23
is thousandths of that.
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是这个的成千上万倍
02:26
So fortunately, one of the other definitions
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幸运地是，“恶心”的另一个定义就在其中
02:29
of "suck" that was in there, it does create a vacuum.
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它制造了真空
02:32
And nature really does abhor a vacuum.
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但是，大自然憎恶真空
02:35
What happened back a few years ago
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几年以前
02:37
was a group of theoretical physicists at MIT
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麻省理工的某些理论物理学家们
02:41
actually came up with this concept of transferring power over distance.
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提出了一种近距离无线传输电力的理念
02:45
Basically they were able to light a 60 watt light bulb
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并且他们在约两米的距离时
02:49
at a distance of about two meters.
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点亮了一盏六十瓦的电灯炮
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It got about 50 percent of the efficiency --
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他们计算出的能源效率大约是50%
02:54
by the way, that's still a couple thousand times
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事实上，这种利用能源的方式
02:56
more efficient than a battery would be, to do the same thing.
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比电池要高出成百上千倍
02:59
But were able to light that,
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并且这已经可以点亮电灯泡了
03:01
and do it very successfully.
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并且成功地实现了
03:03
This was actually the experiment. So you can see
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这就是那个真实的实验。所以你可以看到
03:05
the coils were somewhat larger.
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存在更大的线圈
03:08
The light bulb was a fairly simple task, from their standpoint.
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从他们的角度来看电灯泡只是一个简单的任务
03:11
This all came from a professor
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这全部来源于某位教授
03:14
waking up at night to the third night in a row
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在半夜时连续三次被闹醒
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that his wife's cellphone was beeping
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这是因为他夫人的手机一直在提示
03:18
because it was running out of battery power.
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电量不足（低电量警告）
03:21
And he was thinking, "With all the electricity that's out there in the walls,
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所以他在想：“所有的插座都在墙上，
03:25
why couldn't some of that just come into the phone so I could get some sleep?"
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为什么就不能弄点电到手机里，让我睡个安稳觉？”
03:28
And he actually came up with this concept
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并且他的确实现了这个想法
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of resonant energy transfer.
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通过共振传输能量
03:32
But inside a standard transformer are two coils of wire.
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在标准变压器中有两卷线圈
03:36
And those two coils of wire are really, really close to each other,
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并且这两卷线圈之间靠得非常近
03:39
and actually do transfer power
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事实上它们之间在传输电力--
03:43
magnetically and wirelessly, only over a very short distance.
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透过很短的距离，依靠电磁效应进行无线电力传输
03:46
What Dr. Soljacic figured out how to do
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索尔贾希克博士所想到的是
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was separate the coils in a transformer
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如何将变压器中线圈的距离增大
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to a greater distance than the size of those transformers
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以便在更远的距离中
03:56
using this technology, which is not dissimilar
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应用此项技术，这与歌剧歌手
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from the way an opera singer shatters a glass on the other side of the room.
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在房间的另一面摇晃玻璃窗的方式不同
04:02
It's a resonant phenomenon
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这是一种共振现象
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for which he actually received a MacArthur Fellowship Award,
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据此他获得了麦克阿瑟奖
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which is nicknamed the Genius Award,
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此奖项也被戏称为天才奖
04:09
last September, for his discovery.
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基于他的发现，在去年九月他得到了这一奖励
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So how does it work?
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那么它是如何工作的呢？
04:14
Imagine a coil. For those of you that are engineers,
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想象一卷线圈，对于是工程师的你来说，它
04:17
there's a capacitor attached to it too.
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同时还有电容与之相连
04:19
And if you can cause that coil to resonate,
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如果你能够让线圈发生共振
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what will happen is it will pulse
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它将会在不断改变的频率下
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at alternating current frequencies --
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在相当高的频率下
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at a fairly high frequency, by the way.
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产生脉冲
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And if you can bring another device
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如果你能够带来另一个
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close enough to the source,
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与发电源足够近的设备
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that will only work at exactly that frequency,
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并且它恰好能够在此频率下工作
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you can actually get them to do what's called strongly couple,
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你可让它们形成耦合
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and transfer magnetic energy between them.
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从而在它们之间传递磁能
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And then what you do is, you start out with electricity,
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接下来你要做的只是在你需要电力时
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turn it into magnetic field, take that magnetic field,
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移动到磁性区域内，利用磁场
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turn it back into electricity,
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将其转变成电能
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and then you can use it.
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然后你就可以正常使用了
04:55
Number one question I get asked.
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我所被问到的第一个问题是
04:57
I mean, people are worried about cellphones being safe.
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人们会担心手机的安全性问题
04:59
You know. What about safety?
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你知道的，这个项目的安全性怎么样？
05:01
The first thing is this is not a "radiative" technology.
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我需要声明的第一点是这并非辐射性技术
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It doesn't radiate.
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它并不会产生辐射
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There aren't electric fields here. It's a magnetic field.
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这里并没有电场，只是磁场。
05:08
It stays within either what we call the source,
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它处于被我们称为源或者设备的
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or within the device.
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影响范围之内
05:12
And actually, the magnetic fields we're using
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并且事实上我们所使用的磁场
05:14
are basically about the same as the Earth's magnetic field.
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其本质与地球磁场相同
05:17
We live in a magnetic field.
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我们每天都生活在磁场环境中
05:19
And the other thing that's pretty cool about the technology is
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此项技术的另一个闪光点是
05:22
that it only transfers energy to things that work at exactly the same frequency.
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它仅仅向与其在相同频率下工作的物体输送能源
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And it's virtually impossible in nature to make that happen.
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而这在自然界中几乎没可能让其发生
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Then finally we have governmental bodies everywhere
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在世界各地都有相应的政府机构
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that will regulate everything we do.
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他们会规范我们所做的一切
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They've pretty much set field exposure limits,
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并且他们严格的设定了辐射场标准
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which all of the things in the stuff I'll show you today
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今天我们在此向您们所展示的一切
05:38
sort of sit underneath those guidelines.
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均处于这些规章限制之内
05:41
Mobile electronics.
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移动电子产品
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Home electronics.
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家用电子产品
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Those cords under your desk, I bet everybody here
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这些在你桌子下的电线，我打赌每个人
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has something that looks like that or those batteries.
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都有类似的经历，或者是那些电池
05:50
There are industrial applications.
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这些是工业上的应用
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And then finally, electric vehicles.
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并且最后应用于电动汽车中
05:54
These electric cars are beautiful.
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这些电动汽车非常漂亮
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But who is going to want to plug them in?
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但是有谁愿意很麻烦的去充电呢？
05:59
Imagine driving into your garage -- we've built a system to do this --
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想象一下，当你驶入车库时--我们已经建立了某项系统来完成此工作
06:02
you drive into your garage, and the car charges itself,
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当你驶入车库，汽车将会自动充电
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because there is a mat on the floor that's plugged into the wall.
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因为在地面上有一个插入墙中的垫子
06:09
And it actually causes your car to charge safely and efficiently.
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它让你的汽车能够安全、高效地充电
06:13
Then there's all kinds of other applications. Implanted medical devices,
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当然这也可以被应用于其它领域中，如被移植的医疗设备
06:16
where people don't have to die of infections anymore
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人们不会再因为感染而死亡
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if you can seal the thing up.
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因为你能够将它密封起来
06:20
Credit cards, robot vacuum cleaners.
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信用卡，真空清洁器都可以使用
06:22
So what I'd like to do is take a couple minutes
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我想做的仅是花上几分钟
06:24
and show you, actually, how it works.
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再向你们展示它是如何工作的
06:28
And what I'm going to do is to show you pretty much what's here.
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我将会此向你展示相当精彩的内容
06:33
You've got a coil.
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你有一卷线圈
06:36
That coil is connected to an R.F. amplifier
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线圈与射频放大器相连
06:39
that creates a high-frequency oscillating magnetic field.
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它（射频放大器）将会产生振荡磁场
06:43
We put one on the back of the television set.
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我们将它放在电视机的背后
06:45
By the way, I do make it look a little bit easier than it is.
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对了，我会让它看上去比实际稍微简单一点
06:48
There's lots of electronics and secret sauce
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事实上这含有很多电子设备和秘诀
06:50
and all kinds of intellectual property that go into it.
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并包括了很多与知识产权相关的问题
06:55
But then what's going to happen is, it will create a field.
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但这里将会发生的是，磁场出现了
06:58
It will cause one to get created
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它制造了一个磁场
07:00
on the other side.
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在另一面
07:03
And if the demo gods are willing,
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如果一切顺利地话
07:05
in about 10 seconds or so we should see it.
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在十秒钟之内我们就会看到
07:07
The 10 seconds actually are because we --
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之所以是十秒是因为我们
07:09
I don't know if any of you have ever thought about plugging a T.V. in
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并不曾想到过，这里不是将电视插头插入到插座
07:12
when you use just a cord.
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而仅仅是使用线圈
07:14
Generally, you have to go over and hit the button. So I thought
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一般而言你得绕过去并按下按钮。所以我想到
07:16
we put a little computer in it that has to wake up
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我们弄一点设备在其中
07:18
to tell it to do that.
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使其唤醒那些应该被唤醒的部件并告诉它这样做
07:26
So, I'll plug that in.
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所以，我将它打开
07:28
It creates a magnetic field here.
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它在此产生了磁场
07:31
It causes one to be created out here.
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它让此处产生了一个磁场
07:33
And as I said, in sort of about 10 seconds
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正如我所说，在大约十秒钟内
07:36
we should start to see ...
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我们将会看到
07:40
This is a commercially --
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这是在商业上
07:42
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
07:49
available color television set.
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已经商业化的彩色电视机
07:52
Imagine, you get one of these things. You want to hang them on the wall.
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想象一下，当你拿到这东西并准备挂在墙上时
07:54
How many people want to hang them on the wall?
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有多少人想将其挂在墙上？
07:56
Think about it. You don't want those ugly cords coming down.
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想一想。你并不需要让丑陋的线圈垂下来
07:58
Imagine if you can get rid of it.
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想象一下如果你能够摆脱它
08:00
The other thing I wanted to talk about was safety.
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另一件我想谈的事是安全性问题
08:02
So, there is nothing going on. I'm okay.
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目前在这里啥也没有发生，我很好
08:06
And I'll do it again, just for safety's sake.
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并且我将再做一次，仅是为了安全原因
08:08
Almost immediately, though, people ask,
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几乎在同时，人们问道
08:11
"How small can you make this? Can you make this small enough?"
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“你可以将它做到多小？能够让它变得足够小吗？”
08:14
Because remember Dr. Soljacic's original idea
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因为想起了索尔贾希克博士的最初想法来源于
08:18
was his wife's cellphone beeping.
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他夫人的手机铃声
08:20
So, I wanted to show you something.
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所以我将会向你们展示一些东西
08:23
We're an equal opportunity designer of this sort of thing.
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在这样的事上我们有着平等的机会
08:25
This a Google G1.
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这是Google G1
08:27
You know, it's the latest thing that's come out.
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你知道的，刚出来的最新产品
08:29
It runs the Android operating system.
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它运行着Android操作系统
08:31
I think I heard somebody talk about that before.
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我想以前有人谈到过这玩意
08:33
It's odd. It has a battery.
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它很奇怪，里面有一块电池
08:35
It also has coiled electronics
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在它背后还贴有
08:37
that WiTricity has put into the back of it.
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WiTricity的线圈电子产品
08:39
And if I can get the camera --
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摄像头能够移一下过来吗？
08:42
okay, great --
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很棒，这很不错
08:44
you'll see, as I get sort of close...
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你将会看到，当足够接近时
08:50
you're looking at a cellphone powered completely wirelessly.
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你将会看到手机被无线充电
08:54
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
08:59
And I know some of you are Apple aficionados.
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我想，你们中的一部分是苹果迷
09:02
So, you know they don't make it easy at Apple to get inside their phones.
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因此，你们知道要想利用苹果机内部的一些东西非常困难
09:04
So we put a little sleeve on the back,
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我们在它背后放了套线
09:06
but we should be able to get this guy to wake up too.
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但是我们同样需要能够让它被唤醒
09:09
And those of you that have an iPhone recognize the green center.
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你们那些有iPhone的人，也可以使用这种方式进行充电
09:16
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
09:17
And Nokia as well.
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诺基亚也一样
09:19
You'll see that what we did there is put a little thing in the back, to do that,
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你将会看到我们仅是在其背后放了一点小东西
09:23
and it probably beeps, actually, as it goes on as well.
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事实上它可能会响起来
09:26
But they typically use it to light up the screen.
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但是它们实际上只是利用无线电力让屏幕亮起来
09:28
So, imagine these things could go ... they could go in your ceiling.
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想象一下这能够放置的区域，它们能够到达到你的天花板
09:31
They could go in the floor. They could go, actually, underneath your desktop.
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它们也可以到地下，事实上他们还可以放在你桌子下
09:34
So that when you walk in or you come in from home,
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所以你当你走进来时，或者当你回家时
09:37
if you carry a purse, it works in your purse.
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如果你拿有提包，它也能够在你的提包中工作
09:39
You never have to worry about plugging these things in again.
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你永远不用担心再将它插入插座这些事
09:43
And think of what that would do for you.
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想想它能够为你所做的
09:45
So I think in closing,
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所以我想在最后
09:49
sort of in the immortal visions of The New Yorker magazine,
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在最后的一页幻灯片中
09:53
I thought I'd put up one more slide.
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放上类似于纽约人杂志的经典插图
09:57
And for those of you who can't read it, it says,
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可能有一点看不清楚
09:59
"It does appear to be some kind of wireless technology."
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图上写着"它看上去像是某种无线技术"
10:01
So, thank you very much.
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非常感谢您们倾听
10:03
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eric Giler - Wireless electricianAs the CEO of MIT-inspired WiTricity, Eric Giler has a plan to beam electric power through the air to wirelessly power your laptop or recharge your car. You may never plug in again.
Why you should listen
Eric Giler heads WiTricity, a startup with a product straight out of science fiction: wireless electricity, beamed from a base station to your electrical devices. The technology was developed by an MIT team led by theoretical physicist Marin Soljačić (who won a MacArthur "genius"grant last year). Now, WiTricity is one of several startups developing tech to safely transmit power through the air -- and potentially untether our electronic age.
The technology at the core of WiTricity's approach is called magnetic coupled resonance, which can provoke an energetic response at a distance between two coils, one powered, the other not. If the two coils are correctly tuned to one another, energy flows from the connected one (installed, say, on the ceiling of a room) into the other (inside, say, your laptop). Giler presented a demo of it at TEDGlobal 2009 -- and several companies are already planning to add it to their phones, cameras, TVs and other devices.
Eric Giler | Speaker | TED.com