Nokia Developing Infinite Cell Phone Batteries

Hopes to create a device that will make “Wireless Charging“ possible.

Picture yourself sitting in your room, cell phone in hand and waiting for that all-important phone call. Your cell phone rings and you quickly answer. The conversation goes on for a while but then ends abruptly. You wonder why the voice on other line disappeared. Finally, you check your cell phone and see that the device has run out of power and has shut itself down. All you can do now is mumble the words “ay!” or “lobat na pala ko!” in frustration.

Cell phone batteries can run out of power at the most critical moments. The dreaded “Battery low” message is familiar to cell phone users the world over, most especially to Filipinos. Batteries that have unlimited power might seem like an impossibility but Nokia is developing a technology that could produce just that.

The Nokia Research Center in Cambridge, U.K. is working on a technology which will enable cell phone batteries to power-up phones continuously. The driving force behind the technology is the idea of wirelessly charging cell phones by drawing power from radio waves.

Wireless charging can help avoid situations where mobile phones run out of power in unexpected moments. While waiting for important calls, imagine your phone being “wirelessly charged” as you wait for it to ring. Better yet, you can have your phone charged even while carrying it around the house. No more phone calls ending unexpectedly and no more struggling with the wires of current-gen chargers.  All this is possible with a device that stores energy from radio waves.

By harvesting or gathering energy, enough power is stored in order to keep cell phones on. Energy harvesting or power harvesting is the process by which energy is obtained from external sources. These energy sources include solar energy, thermal energy, and electromagnetic energy.

Electromagnetic energy is present in radio waves emitted by TV antennas, WiFi transmitters, cell phones and similar devices. Markku Rouvala, a researcher from the Nokia Research Centre, says that electromagnetic radiation can be converted into electrical current and charge cell phone batteries wirelessly.

The wireless transfer and conversion of electrical energy through power harvesting is enough to produce a small amount of power for electronic devices that use low energy.

Nokia‘s current prototype device can harvest three to five milliwatts of power. According to Rouvala, his team is aiming to create a prototype which can harvest up to fifty milliwatts of power. Fifty milliwatts is enough power to slowly charge a cell phone while it is switched off.

The device being developed by Nokia is an advanced form of a radio receiver. Radio receivers are electronic devices that receive wireless signals and processes them to produce information.

Specifically, Nokia’s prototype is a crystal radio receiver, also called a crystal set. A crystal set is a radio receiver that needs no battery or power source except the power received from electromagnetic waves.

Although Rouvala admits that converting electromagnetic waves into electrical current might yield only small amounts of power, he insists that energy harvesting is still possible provided that the receiver is not using more power than it is getting.

Still, Nokia understands that in order to get more power and improve the range of the technology, energy harvesting should be done using different radio communication signals. An improved receiver with a wider range can be capable of such task.

What this implies is that Nokia cell phones need to draw power from as many devices as possible. Think of home appliances that emit radio waves like television antennas, radio sets, microwaves, and even WiFi transmitters! Imagine how easy it would be to fully charge your phone’s battery if you’re always near these type of equipment.

The potential is immense, seeing as this could also provide power for MP3 players and other electronic devices.

However, massive potential aside, it will still take some time to optimize this new technology and release it to the masses. The amount of energy harvested from radio waves is relatively smaller than power obtained from electric sockets and a receiver able to store enough power is a few years away.

Still, Markku Ouvala Knows that the technology of wireless charging is young and has a lot of room to grow: “I would say it is possible to put this into a product within three to four years.”

So the next time your call suddenly ends, or your text message fails to send, think about a future where phones are always on, and everyone is always connected. Is three to four years worth the wait? I’m sure the next time your phone displays the dreaded “battery low” message; you’ll know that the answer is a resounding yes.

Nokia: Connecting people, constantly. Unlimited power for your Nokia handset is now possible in three to four years says the Nokia Research Center in Cambridge, UK.