The Russian development will allow charging smartphones, turning on TVs, game consoles and other electronics without wires and sockets in about five years. Specialists from ITMO are preparing to show the prototype in the summer of 2022. About how the life of Russians will change with the new technology - in the material.

Already in this decade

By 2027, Russia intends to start equipping Russian apartments and houses with wireless rooms - rooms with technology for charging all electronics without using wires and sockets, said the chief researcher of the ITMO Faculty of Physics Pavel Belov.

Currently, the university is developing a prototype with such technology and intends not only to ensure uninterrupted power supply, but also to guarantee the safety of life and health of the person in it.

“Usually, it takes 5 to 7 years from the successful implementation of a prototype to the appearance in homes, because certification is required, and this process is not fast,” said Belov.

It is expected that in the summer of 2022, a prototype “room” will appear on the territory of the university in St. Petersburg, inside which it will be possible to charge any electronics.

“We will have at least one, maximum three such rooms to recharge gadgets. This is planned to be this summer,” Belov said.

According to the scientist, while it will not look like a standard room, but like a frame. He added that the introduction of technology into houses and apartments is only a matter of time.

“It will be possible to enter the prototype from different sides,” the specialist explained.

What kind of room?

The project is designed for three years, while it is planned to create a room 2x2x2 meters. Over time, the technology is planned to be refined so that it can work in rooms with a polygonal and uneven shape.

Belov emphasized that many devices will need separate adapters to charge gadget batteries and operate electronics from such a network. “Current chargers and wires will not meet indoor charge standards,” he explained.

The charging speed of gadgets like iPhone or Android smartphones will depend on their battery. The specialist clarified that the pace of charging smartphones using the new technology will not accelerate compared to standard wired options.

The main goal of the technology is to constantly power devices that are usually connected to a power outlet in homes.

“The kettle or TV will be charged using this technology, and wires will not be needed. There will be a transfer of an electric charge of greater power,” Belov explained.

Such a room would have no limit on the amount of electronics that can be placed inside at the same time. “The restriction will be the same machine as in the case of the current wired electricity in the apartment. It is usually set to 15 amperes,” Belov added.

The head of the robotics center of the student innovation platform of the Tyumen Industrial University (TIU) Vadim Kostin, in a conversation with, assessed the chances of successful implementation of this project as "50 to 50".

In his opinion, in Russia it is realistic to create such a room within the university within 5-7 years. “If we assume that this is being developed now in Silicon Valley or in China, then it is possible there in 2-3 years,” he added.

Security issues

Pavel Belov assured that such recharging will not be harmful to the health of users.

“The transfer of energy takes place through a magnetic field, which is harmless to humans. A magnetic field, unlike electricity, does not interact with a person, does not affect his nerve endings or anything else, ”he said.

Belov said that the wireless room and human influence on it can be compared with MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

“Only in this technology, the power of alternating magnetic fields will be much lower. Our calculations and experiments show that they will be harmless to both people and animals inside the room,” he added.

In his opinion, wireless rooms will eventually become as everyday as radio frequencies, which "surround us every day and are used to transmit information."

The planned capacity of the room from ITMO meets the requirements for powering and charging electronics that are currently used in homes, said Vladimir Sorotsky, professor at the Higher School of Applied Physics and Space Technologies of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU).

However, the specialist noted that magnetic fields with such characteristics can have a potentially dangerous effect on humans.

“Electrical energy storage devices are used. It's one thing when it's some kind of storage room where a person put his smartphone and left. And if we are talking about a living room, then questions already arise, ”the scientist noted.

According to Sorotsky, when a room is artificially filled with electromagnetic fields, it is very important to correctly calculate what kind of tension there will be.“In order for a person to work in this room, the power should not be very large. And 15 amps is very serious. I would not want to be in this room between the plates of capacitors, where there will be high-frequency fields, ”said Sorotsky.

The scientist added that generating electricity through the air requires precision and high efficiency. “I am waiting for a technical assessment of the effectiveness of the development of colleagues from ITMO. If the efficiency of this system is 5-10% maximum, then an extremely small part of the energy will get into the same smartphone, ”he concluded.

“Magnetic fields are not as beneficial to humans at a certain level. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the efficiency of such a room. An increase in efficiency is possible due to an increase in the concentration of magnetic fields.

That is, the whole question is precisely in the ratio, so that there is both the necessary power for devices and safety for a person,” said Vadim Kostin from TIU.

The scientist noted that certification "will eat up a lot of time" from the development process. “In residential buildings, the creation of such fields will raise much more questions. There should be certificates of conformity on the admissibility of use and the impact on health, ”the specialist concluded.

Are there any analogues in the world?

In 2021, the Chinese company Xiaomi created the Mi Air Charge charger capable of charging smartphones over the air at a distance of several meters. The development uses directed microwaves. It can not only charge gadgets, but also power electronics. Charging power was rated at 5W for each device.

The main body of Mi Air Charge contains five phase antennas that calculate the location of the smartphone in order to transmit millimeter waves in a direction. That is, unlike existing wireless chargers, electromagnetic induction is not used here.

A smartphone or any compatible device can be the receiver. To do this, you need to mount two antenna blocks: a beacon that determines the position of the device and a block of 14 mini-antennas that capture microwaves.

The head of the mobile division of Xiaomi, Adam Zeng Xuezhong, claimed that the new product will be able to power smart speakers and table lamps without wires.

Three years before the Chinese company, in December 2017, the American startup Energous demonstrated a similar WattUp technology. According to the developers, the technology will be able to charge and maintain the operation of devices at a distance of up to one meter from the transmitter.

It was planned to eventually increase this distance to five meters. WattUp was described as the conversion of electrical energy into radio frequency radiation, transmitted to any gadget with a receiver. However, so far, the developments of Xiaomi and Energous have not gone to retail.

In August 2021, a team of researchers from the University of Tokyo and Michigan published an article in the journal Nature on a method for transferring energy through the air inside a room. They created such a room measuring 3x3x2 meters. The scientists claimed that fans, lamps, and dead smartphones could be used wirelessly anywhere in their prototype.

In their case, energy is transferred by concentrated capacitors in the cavities of the walls. The devices create two three-dimensional magnetic fields that cover the entire volume of the room.

According to the description, the creation of a resonance near the field made it possible to increase the efficiency of the room, it exceeds 37%. To use the energy, it is enough to install compact magnetic coils.

Scientists also conducted tests on anatomical mannequins and stated that the radiation inside the room does not exceed the recommendations of the US Federal Communications Commission on exposure to electromagnetic fields.

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