December 21, 2024

The US Navy transmitted 1.6 kilowatts of power through the microwave

3 min read
Imagem transmissor de antena de microondas apontado para uma antena rectificadora em parte da demonstração SCOPE-M

Is it possible to send energy from point A to point B wirelessly? It is not a new idea, Already in 2019 The United States submitted a project to send solar energy from space to Earth. Now, a team of researchers from the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has successfully demonstrated wireless power transmission over a distance of one kilometer.

This technology can be very important for providing power to places where there is no infrastructure. Or even on the battlefront to supply tanks.

Image of a microwave antenna transmitter directed at a rectified antenna in part of the SCOPE-M . view

Wireless power? Yes there is!

The idea of ​​radiating energy wirelessly has been around for decades, but it is gaining momentum again as humanity seeks to change its ways of harnessing energy.

While the concept of creating solar farms on other planets and sending energy back to Earth is still far from realistic, the US military can ensure energy security for its forces as it seeks to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.

SCOPE-M . project

Taking into account the interests of the US military, the The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering has funded a project at NRL To test point-to-point electrical energy transfer using microwaves, I called it "Safe and Continuous Carbon Dioxide Microwave Energy Emission (SCOPE-M)".

Within 12 months of the project's start, the NRL team of researchers demonstrated a terrestrial application of the technology, radiating energy not just at one site, but at two sites. One is at the US Army Research Field in Maryland, and the other is at Haystack's High Speed ​​Satellite Imagery Radar (HUSIR) transmitter at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Both installations use a 10GHz microwave beam, as the technology is well known to be safe for humans and animals, including birds, yet is inexpensive to operate.

According to Paul Jaffe of Energy beam and solar lead in spaceDuring previous experiments with laser energy, engineers had to build systems that would block the rays from being transmitted if something crossed their path. However, since the intensity The 10GHz power was intrinsically safesuch systems were not needed in the SCOPE-M project.

How was this transfer of energy possible?

The principle used to transmit electricity is simple. Electricity is first transmitted to microwaves and then transmitted in the form of a narrow beam towards the receiver, which is equipped with a "straight" antenna or rectifier. In wireless power transmission systems, the rectifier is an antenna with a rectifier diode Electromagnetic energy can be converted into direct current.

By installing these systems, the NRL team successfully transmitted power wirelessly at both locations. in Maryland, Researchers were able to transmit 1.6 kilowatts of energy, well above the 60% target. At MIT, although the team could not manage the same peak power, the average transmitted power was higher, resulting in more power savings.

Although SCOPE-M was a terrestrial energy remote transmission link, it was a good proof of concept for a space energy remote transmission link. The main benefit of moving space power to Earth for the Department of Defense is to reduce dependence on fuel supplies to forces, which may be vulnerable to attack.

He said Brian TierneyProject Electronics Engineer.

In short, this project can help bring energy to the fore so that no other means of refueling is needed. In the distant future, this technology will make it possible to capture solar energy from the various planets of the solar system and send that energy back to Earth. It might sound like a fantasy, right? But the principle is found.

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