Quarter of a million views, thanks everyone!
The power cord, I know you hate it. Sometimes, you just want to cut it apart! Well say goodbye to your power cords, because with the power of inductive coupling your device will not need to be connected metal to metal. Seemlessly your device can be charged!
This instructable will show you the basics of creating your own cheap and easy wireless power mat, which you can use to power your device through the air!
complete list of components.
Check out my new project on sending a balloon into space!!
Step 1: What is it? How does it work?
A few years ago MIT created a system for transferring power wirelessly. They transmitted power over a two-meter distance, from the coil on the left to the coil on the right, where it powers a 60W light bulb. Back in 2006, this was a pretty cool thing. You can only imagine what the implications of something like this would be. Well, unlike most of us, we do not have the time or material goods like MIT has. So i have made this simple and easy to follow Instructable, so all of you good people can experience the joy of wireless power.
Inductive Coupling uses magnetic fields to transfer power. There is a primary coil, which generates a magnetic field. Then there is another secondary coil which is composed of a capacitor and a coil, the capacitor creates a resonant circuit with the primary and secondary coils. Seem easy? Well, before publishing this instructable I found many useful and a lot of non-useful info on the subject.
In my research I found, that to transfer power in very complicated. Once i did it I found that you do not need to go to MIT do do this sort of stuff. With a little electrical know how, this is easy.
It all starts with the transmitter. This transmitter needs to create 147.7 kHz square wave AC signal. Let me take a minute to explain this all. Level one on the frequency scale is Hertzs, then there is kHz, then MHz. MIT used a 10 mHz wave to drive there coils, but for this we will be using a 147.7 kHz signal so it does not get too complicated.
The secondary coil has a 0.02 uF capacitor. This will allow the two circuits to be coupled therefore, transferring power efficiently. The 0.02 uF capacitor is used only for this frequency, and the value of this capcitor will change depending on the frequency.
The primary coil creates a magnetic field, when another coil is placed near it, energy will be induced into it.
Be in mind that i could not get a hold of a 0.02uF capacitor so i used two 0.01uF capacitors connected together.