uBeam Makes Long-Range Wireless Charging A Reality

Batteries are getting bigger, and lasting longer as the year progresses. The upcoming BlackBerry Passport will feature a gigantic battery, but nevertheless, you will always have to charge your device at some point. Up until now, wireless charging has been limited to close proximity contact. Like with the Z30 on Verizon, for example, you literally have to set it on the charger for it to get some juice. This all may be changing in the near future thanks to a startup company called uBeam. uBeam uses ultrasound to transmit electricity. Power is converted into the sound waves that are transmitted and converted back to power on reaching the device. The uBeam concept was discovered by 25-year-old astrobiology graduate Meredith Perry. She founded the company, and has worked to see her ideas turn into reality. The uBeam charger uses a 5mm thick transmitter plate, which is attached to walls or can be made to look like decorative art, for example. The charging gadget only needs a thin receiver on its end for the whole process to work. This isn’t just for smartphones, tablets and laptops either. uBeam imagines a world that everything is charged wirelessly, from your computer to your toaster-oven. This type of charging could also help conserve energy too, and in the long run be even more beneficial in general for it. “This is the only wireless power system that allows you to be on your phone and moving around a room freely while you’re device is charging. It allows for a Wi-Fi-like experience of charging; with everything else you have to be in close range of a transmitter,” said Perry in an interview with the New York Times. uBeam expect to start producing and selling their products to coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, and the like very soon. No word on when we will see a consumer version available, but honestly it can’t be that far away. uBeam Makes Long-Range Wireless Charging A Reality written by JT Teran on N4BB

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