If there’s anything cooler than wirelessly charging your smartphone, it’s wirelessly charging 40 smartphones at the same time. GigaOM points us to an experimental wireless charger developed by The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) that can charge up to 40 phones at the same time from as far as 15 feet away. Chun T. Rim, a professor of Nuclear & Quantum Engineering at KAIST, says that the new Dipole Coil Resonant System (DCRS) has “proved the possibility of a new remote power delivery mechanism that has never been tried at such a long distance.”
At just 3 meters long, 10 centimeters wide and 20 centimeters tall, DCRS seems like it could could serve as a public wireless charging station in locations such as airports that could eventually let multiple people charge their devices without having to crowd around the same area. Rim says that the technology isn’t close to being commercialized right now but he says eventually long-range wireless charging stations will become just as common as Wi-Fi hotspots are today.
“Just like we see Wi-Fi zones everywhere today, we will eventually have many Wi-Power zones at such places as restaurants and streets that provide electric power wirelessly to electronic devices,” Rim explains. “We will use all the devices anywhere without tangled wires attached and anytime without worrying about charging their batteries.”
A video demonstration of the charger in action follows below.
