Send 12vdc through the air?
I had someone ask me today about how to connect DC to a moving object without the hassles of wires bouncing around or getting broken over time. I thought maybe there is a way to send AC through the air like those battery operated tooth brushes that charge on a stand with no electrical contacts. I assume they are just using a coil on each side and sending AC, then rectifying the AC. Does anyone know of a robust system to get <1 amp like this?
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Sorry I didn't make that clear, only when a door is in fully closed position so that a device is mounted on it and can come in contact with some other device mounted in the wall does it need to work. So that actually the two parts could be basically touching, but as far as electrical contacts, that is no an option, I think it would be asking for headaches. A coil on the door and a coil on the door where they can touch each other, that seems like a reliable method.
I heard rumors the Tesla had a system that would transmit energy and everyone could drive their cars off it :
There was a show about this the other day on the History Channel. It was pretty wild.
Yes, I think Tesla believed it could be done, but I don't think it's a realistic concept. For one thing, living things are sensitive to electromagnetic fields, so it's more likely you'd cause some kind of damage to cellular functions. As Tesla got older, his mind reportedly evaporated into some kind of fantastic, otherworldly dotage and I sometimes wonder if his "visionary states" might have been caused by his years of exposure to strong damaging electrical and magnetic fields.
But before that time, he did transmit electricity about 20 miles away using a high powered coil at high frequency. There are pictures of him sitting on a chair in the center of that transmitter. Alas, such a transmitter, if turned on today, would fry everything electronic for several miles. I went through several computers and digital watches when I was building and testing large table top Tesla coils.
The chargers that you mentioned are simply a primary coil in the charging base and a secondary coil of the same frequency in the item to be charged. All at a low enough power and frequency so as not to bypass any voltage regulators by induction on the actual circuitry.
http://www.economist.com/node/16295708
The 10 minute video link at the bottom is even easier to digest. They talk about harvesting 1mW from the local TV tower.