Using the smartphone is always a pleasant experience, until the charge runs out. The only option left is to plug the phone into a charging arrangement, usually a mains-operated power supply that connects to the phone by a USB cable. The main disadvantage of this method is it limits the freedom of mobility of the phone until it is charged up again. That leaves people to wonder as to how long before smartphones could be charged wirelessly same as everyone uses Wi-Fi to link to the Internet.

Now, researchers at Disney Research have done the inevitable. They have discovered a method of charging electronic gadgets without using any type of cords or cradles. Not only can you charge a number of electronic devices through Wi-Fi anywhere in your room, you could simultaneously power fans, cellphones, and lights as well.

Quasistatic Cavity Resonance (QSCR), as the Disney researchers have named the technology, has been tested successfully during recent trials. The researchers generated near-field standing magnetic fields within a closed space. Filling a 16-ft. x 16-ft. room, these field waves were able to charge standard electronic gadgets within the room. However, the room needed to have special properties, such as metalized walls, floor, and ceiling.

Within this metal room, the scientists could generate magnetic waves suitable for charging several smartphones, glow a few lamps, and operate fans at the same time. In total, they transmitted about 1.9 KW of power, sufficient to charge about 320 smartphones simultaneously.

The trial has established that the innovative method has the capability to transfer electrical power as easily as Wi-Fi does. According to Alanson Sample, this could help power new applications for small mobile devices such as robots, as they would not need battery replacements or charging wires. Alanson is the principal research scientist and associate lab director at Disney Research.

Although the demonstration used room-scale wireless power, Alanson informs it could easily be scaled up to the size of a warehouse or down to the size of a toy chest.

Although wireless charging is not a new idea, it has always been a long-standing dream for many. In 1890s, Nicola Tesla had already demonstrated wireless lighting systems and proposed ideas of long distance power transmission without wires. However, none of that ever came into existence.

So far, transmitting power wirelessly has been accomplished only for short distances, mostly for charging stands or pads. However, the new technology, QSCR, will help to increase the transmission distance to many times over.

Once the researchers channeled electric power through the metalized walls, ceiling, floor of the room using the Quasistatic Cavity Resonance technique, there was enough uniform and strong magnetic fields inside the room. Receiving coils designed to intercept these magnetic field resonate at the same frequency because of capacitors placed across the coils. The induced currents within these coils can transfer the power at low frequencies to any device containing the receiving coils within the device. Making a room metalized is also not difficult, as it requires only a thin metallic coating on the walls.