Eric Giler demos wireless electricity

譯者: kane tan 審譯者: Marie Wu

Early visions of wireless power

無線電力的早期概念，

actually were thought of by Nikola Tesla

源自於自尼古拉．特斯拉的想法，

basically about 100 years ago.

大約在一百年前。

The thought that

那時大家認為，

you wouldn't want to transfer electric power wirelessly,

你不會想用無線的方式去傳輸電力，

no one ever thought of that.

也從來沒有人想過這件事。

They thought, "Who would use it if you didn't?"

大家都認為：「誰會想去做沒人要做的事？」

And so, in fact, he actually set about

即使如此，事實上，

doing a variety of things.

他確實做出了一些東西。

Built the Tesla coil. This tower was built

他建造了特斯拉線圈。這個塔建造於

on Long Island back at the beginning of the 1900s.

1900年代初期的長島上，

And the idea was, it was supposed to be able to transfer power

原始目的是希望利用這座塔把電力傳送到

anywhere on Earth.

地球上的每個角落。

We'll never know if this stuff worked. Actually, I think the

我們無法知道這東西是否有用。事實上我想，

Federal Bureau of Investigation

聯邦調查局(FBI)

took it down for security purposes,

基於安全考量將它拆掉了，

sometime in the early 1900s.

就在1900年代初期的某個時候。

But the one thing that did come out of electricity

不過這也說明了一些事情，

is that we love this stuff so much.

就是我們深深地愛上了電力。

I mean, think about how much we love this.

我是說，想想我們有多愛它。

If you just walk outside, there are trillions of dollars

只要你走出門，就會看見耗費幾兆美金

that have been invested in infrastructure around the world,

所建造的電力設施座落在世界各地，

putting up wires to get power from where it's created

接上了電線，將電力從發電的場所

to where it's used.

傳送到用戶端。

The other thing is, we love batteries.

另一件事，就是我們很愛電池。

And for those of us that have an environmental element to us,

愛用電池的我們會對環境造成一些影響，

there is something like 40 billion

每年大約會有四百億個

disposable batteries built every year

拋棄式電池被製造出來。

for power that, generally speaking,

一般來說，

is used within a few inches or a few feet

人們是在幾英吋或幾英呎的狹小範圍裡，

of where there is very inexpensive power.

使用這種便宜的電力來源。

So, before I got here,

在我來這裡之前，

I thought, "You know, I am from North America.

我想：「大家都知道，我來自於北美，

We do have a little bit of a reputation in the United States."

我們在美國還算小有名氣。」

So I thought I'd better look it up first.

所以我最好先查一下，

So definition number six is the North American

在北美對於"suck" 這個字的第六個定義，

definition of the word "suck."

意思是指很"差勁"。

Wires suck, they really do.

電線很差勁，它確實如此。

Think about it. Whether that's you in that picture

試想一下。你是不是照片裡的那個人，

or something under your desk.

或那些是不是你桌子下面的東西。

The other thing is, batteries suck too.

另外，電池也很差勁。

And they really, really do.

他們的確是如此。

Do you ever wonder what happens to this stuff?

有想過這東西會變成什麼嗎？

40 billion of these things built.

四百億個電池被製造出來以後，

This is what happens.

這就是接下來會發生的事。

They fall apart, they disintegrate,

他們會裂開、會碎掉，

and they end up here.

結果變成這樣。

So when you talk about expensive power,

所以當你提到昂貴的電力時，

the cost per kilowatt-hour

你得知道，若以電池供電，

to supply battery power to something

每千瓦小時就得耗去

is on the order of two to three hundred pounds.

大約兩百到三百磅重的電池。

Think about that.

想想看，

The most expensive grid power in the world

世界上最昂貴的電力網絡

is thousandths of that.

會是它的數千倍。

So fortunately, one of the other definitions

幸運的是，Suck 的另一個定義

of "suck" that was in there, it does create a vacuum.

是指它會造成真空，

And nature really does abhor a vacuum.

而大自然確實也不喜歡真空狀態。

What happened back a few years ago

幾年前，

was a group of theoretical physicists at MIT

MIT(麻省理工學院)的一群理論物理學家們

actually came up with this concept of transferring power over distance.

提出了遠距電力傳輸的概念。

Basically they were able to light a 60 watt light bulb

基本上，他們已經可以點亮一盞距離兩公尺遠的

at a distance of about two meters.

六十瓦的燈泡。

It got about 50 percent of the efficiency --

它的電力傳輸效率大概是五十%。

by the way, that's still a couple thousand times

即使如此，這種方式的傳輸效率

more efficient than a battery would be, to do the same thing.

已經比用電池做同一件事高上數千倍。

But were able to light that,

但確實可以點亮燈泡，

and do it very successfully.

而且相當地成功。

This was actually the experiment. So you can see

這只是實驗而已。所以你會發現

the coils were somewhat larger.

這些線圈看起來有點大。

The light bulb was a fairly simple task, from their standpoint.

對他們來說，點亮燈泡是一件很簡單的事。

This all came from a professor

這一切源自於一個教授，

waking up at night to the third night in a row

連續三個晚上

that his wife's cellphone was beeping

都被他老婆手機的嗶嗶聲給吵醒，

because it was running out of battery power.

因為手機的電池快沒電了。

And he was thinking, "With all the electricity that's out there in the walls,

於是他想：「明明牆上就有電，

why couldn't some of that just come into the phone so I could get some sleep?"

為什麼電不能自己跑進手機裡，那我就可以好好睡覺了？」

And he actually came up with this concept

於是他藉由共振方式傳遞能量，

of resonant energy transfer.

來實現了這個概念。

But inside a standard transformer are two coils of wire.

在標準的變壓器中有兩個線圈，

And those two coils of wire are really, really close to each other,

這兩個線圈靠得很近，

and actually do transfer power

在這非常短的距離中，以磁能的方式，

magnetically and wirelessly, only over a very short distance.

來進行無線的能量傳遞。

What Dr. Soljacic figured out how to do

Soljacic 博士所想到的作法是，

was separate the coils in a transformer

將變壓器中的線圈分開，

to a greater distance than the size of those transformers

移到比變壓器尺寸更遠的距離，

using this technology, which is not dissimilar

讓能量無線傳遞，

from the way an opera singer shatters a glass on the other side of the room.

原理就像是歌劇的演唱者將隔壁房裡杯子震破一般。

It's a resonant phenomenon

這是一種共振原理，

for which he actually received a MacArthur Fellowship Award,

藉此他得到了麥克阿瑟獎，

which is nicknamed the Genius Award,

這個獎又被稱為天才獎，

last September, for his discovery.

他的發明讓他在去年九月得到了這個獎。

So how does it work?

那麼，它怎麼運作呢？

Imagine a coil. For those of you that are engineers,

在座如果有工程師的話，請你想像一下線圈，

there's a capacitor attached to it too.

上面還接著一個電容。

And if you can cause that coil to resonate,

如果你能夠讓線圈共振，

what will happen is it will pulse

那麼它將會產生脈衝，

at alternating current frequencies --

那是種交流電的頻率，

at a fairly high frequency, by the way.

相當高的頻率。

And if you can bring another device

如果你拿另一組線圈，

close enough to the source,

盡可能地靠近共振線圈時，

that will only work at exactly that frequency,

它將會產生完全相同的頻率，

you can actually get them to do what's called strongly couple,

你可以讓它們形成一種叫做強耦合的現象，

and transfer magnetic energy between them.

如此就可以在彼此間進行磁能傳遞。

And then what you do is, you start out with electricity,

你所要做的是提供電力，

turn it into magnetic field, take that magnetic field,

然後將電力轉換成磁場，

turn it back into electricity,

再將磁場轉換回電力，

and then you can use it.

這樣你就可以使用它了。

Number one question I get asked.

我最常被問的問題是，

I mean, people are worried about cellphones being safe.

人們都擔心手機的安全性，

You know. What about safety?

那這個東西的安全性如何呢？

The first thing is this is not a "radiative" technology.

首先，這並不是放射技術，

It doesn't radiate.

它不會產生放射電波，

There aren't electric fields here. It's a magnetic field.

不會有電場產生，這是一種磁場。

It stays within either what we call the source,

它只會存在於發射源

or within the device.

或接受器中。

And actually, the magnetic fields we're using

事實上我們所用的磁場，

are basically about the same as the Earth's magnetic field.

基本上跟地球的磁場是一樣的東西，

We live in a magnetic field.

我們就生活在磁場中。

And the other thing that's pretty cool about the technology is

另外，這個技術有一個很酷的地方，

that it only transfers energy to things that work at exactly the same frequency.

就是能量只會傳送到頻率完全相同的地方，

And it's virtually impossible in nature to make that happen.

這個在自然界中幾乎是不可能發生的事。

Then finally we have governmental bodies everywhere

而且，世界各地都有政府組織，

that will regulate everything we do.

會監管我們所做的一切，

They've pretty much set field exposure limits,

他們設定了許多關於放射限制的規範，

which all of the things in the stuff I'll show you today

而今天我要展示給你們看的東西，

sort of sit underneath those guidelines.

都在這些限制規範內。

Mobile electronics.

攜帶性電子產品、

Home electronics.

家用的電子產品、

Those cords under your desk, I bet everybody here

在你桌子下面的電線，我打賭在這裡的每個人

has something that looks like that or those batteries.

都有類似的東西或電池，

There are industrial applications.

這些東西也可以運用在工業上，

And then finally, electric vehicles.

最後則是電動車。

These electric cars are beautiful.

這些電動車很美，

But who is going to want to plug them in?

但是誰會希望它們要插電？

Imagine driving into your garage -- we've built a system to do this --

想像著當你把車開進車庫 - 我們在裡面裝置了一套系統 -

you drive into your garage, and the car charges itself,

當你把車開進車庫後，車子就自動開始充電。

because there is a mat on the floor that's plugged into the wall.

因為地上的毯子已經連接到牆上的電源了，

And it actually causes your car to charge safely and efficiently.

你的車子可以既安全又有效率地充電。

Then there's all kinds of other applications. Implanted medical devices,

還有其他各種方面的運用，例如植入式醫療裝置，

where people don't have to die of infections anymore

人們不會再因為遭受感染而死亡，

if you can seal the thing up.

你只要把東西密封起來就行了，

Credit cards, robot vacuum cleaners.

像是信用卡及吸塵器等。

So what I'd like to do is take a couple minutes

我想花幾分鐘來說明，

and show you, actually, how it works.

讓你們了解它的實際運作方式。

And what I'm going to do is to show you pretty much what's here.

我要給大家看些東西，

You've got a coil.

這是一個線圈，

That coil is connected to an R.F. amplifier

這個線圈連結到一個高頻放大器，

that creates a high-frequency oscillating magnetic field.

它會產生一個高頻震盪的磁場，

We put one on the back of the television set.

我們在這電視機背後也放了一組線圈。

By the way, I do make it look a little bit easier than it is.

對了，我現在只是讓它看起來比實際上簡單一點，

There's lots of electronics and secret sauce

其中還有許多電子設備和秘訣，

and all kinds of intellectual property that go into it.

以及各種智慧財產在裡面。

But then what's going to happen is, it will create a field.

接下來，它會產生磁場，

It will cause one to get created

它會讓另一端

on the other side.

也產生磁場。

And if the demo gods are willing,

如果一切順利的話，

in about 10 seconds or so we should see it.

大約十秒左右我們就會看見。

The 10 seconds actually are because we --

十秒是因為我們 ...

I don't know if any of you have ever thought about plugging a T.V. in

我不知道是否有人會想幫電視插上插頭，

when you use just a cord.

因為我現在只用一組線圈來產生電力。

Generally, you have to go over and hit the button. So I thought

一般來說你必須過去按下按鈕，

we put a little computer in it that has to wake up

所以我們在裡面放一個小電腦，

to tell it to do that.

用來開啟電視。

So, I'll plug that in.

好，我插上插頭了，

It creates a magnetic field here.

這邊產生了磁場，

It causes one to be created out here.

它讓那邊也產生了磁場。

And as I said, in sort of about 10 seconds

大概十秒左右

we should start to see ...

我們將會看見...

This is a commercially --

這是一個市面上販售的

(Applause)

(鼓掌)

available color television set.

一台市面上販售的彩色電視機。

Imagine, you get one of these things. You want to hang them on the wall.

想像一下，當你買一台掛在牆壁上，

How many people want to hang them on the wall?

有多少人想把它掛在牆上？

Think about it. You don't want those ugly cords coming down.

想想，你不會想要醜陋的電線垂在那邊。

Imagine if you can get rid of it.

想像一下如果你能擺脫這些電線。

The other thing I wanted to talk about was safety.

另外我想談談安全性。

So, there is nothing going on. I'm okay.

我很好，什麼事都沒發生。

And I'll do it again, just for safety's sake.

為了證實安全性，我再做一次。

Almost immediately, though, people ask,

人們幾乎都會立刻想到這個問題，

"How small can you make this? Can you make this small enough?"

「你可以讓它變得多小？夠小嗎？」

Because remember Dr. Soljacic's original idea

請記住 Soljacic 博士最初的想法，

was his wife's cellphone beeping.

是源自於他老婆的手機嗶嗶聲。

So, I wanted to show you something.

所以我想給你們看一些東西，

We're an equal opportunity designer of this sort of thing.

我們也有同樣的機會來設計這類東西。

This a Google G1.

這是 Google G1，

You know, it's the latest thing that's come out.

你知道，這是剛出來的最新機種，

It runs the Android operating system.

它使用Android作業系統。

I think I heard somebody talk about that before.

我之前聽過某人聊到它，

It's odd. It has a battery.

它看起來有點怪，它有電池，

It also has coiled electronics

它的背後還裝入了

that WiTricity has put into the back of it.

稱為 WiTricity 的線圈電力系統。

And if I can get the camera --

所以如果可以，麻煩鏡頭拍一下，

okay, great --

好，很好。

you'll see, as I get sort of close...

當我把它靠近時你將會看見 ...

you're looking at a cellphone powered completely wirelessly.

這手機現在完全依靠無線電力供電。

(Applause)

(掌聲)

And I know some of you are Apple aficionados.

我知道你們有些人是Apple迷，

So, you know they don't make it easy at Apple to get inside their phones.

你知道要把東西放進Apple手機裡很不容易，

So we put a little sleeve on the back,

所以我們在背後放了一個套子，

but we should be able to get this guy to wake up too.

我們應該也可以讓它啟動。

And those of you that have an iPhone recognize the green center.

有iPhone的人應該認得中間的綠色圖像。

(Applause)

(掌聲)

And Nokia as well.

Nokia也一樣。

You'll see that what we did there is put a little thing in the back, to do that,

我們在後面放入一些小東西來達到目的，

and it probably beeps, actually, as it goes on as well.

當它啟動時會發出嗶嗶聲，

But they typically use it to light up the screen.

不過電力主要還是用來啟動螢幕。

So, imagine these things could go ... they could go in your ceiling.

想像一下可以運用的地方，可以放進天花板，

They could go in the floor. They could go, actually, underneath your desktop.

可以放進地板裡，也可以放在你的電腦下面。

So that when you walk in or you come in from home,

當你走進房內，或從家裡出來時，

if you carry a purse, it works in your purse.

如果你帶著皮包，它在皮包裡也可以運作。

You never have to worry about plugging these things in again.

你不用再煩惱要插電這種事，

And think of what that would do for you.

想想這可以幫你做什麼事。

So I think in closing,

最後，

sort of in the immortal visions of The New Yorker magazine,

就像New Yorker 雜誌有其矢志達成的願景一樣，

I thought I'd put up one more slide.

我要再放一張投影片，

And for those of you who can't read it, it says,

若有人看不懂，讓我唸出來：

"It does appear to be some kind of wireless technology."

「這看起來像是某種無線技術。」

So, thank you very much.

以上，謝謝大家。

(Applause)

(掌聲)