Startup raises $30 million for wireless power delivery system
- Reference: 1670247010
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/12/05/reach_power_wireless_charging_funds/
- Source link:
Reach Power claims its system is capable of wirelessly delivering hundreds of watts of energy over distances of tens of meters using radio waves, claiming it can power or recharge many end devices at the same time.
The company said its Series B financing round, led by venture capital firm DCVC along with participation from Y Combinator, Transform VC, and Collaborative Fund, will help it fund solutions for a number of power-related challenges that it sees.
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These challenges are said to include eliminating the downtime involved in charging up autonomous vehicles and drones; enabling the deployment of temporary microgrids for emergency situations or for military field operations; as well as potentially being used to power miniature IoT devices.
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"Reach's mission is to do for power what Wi-Fi has done for data," founder and CEO Chris Davlantes said in a statement accompanying the funding announcement.
He claimed the company's technology can provide industrial-scale wireless power networks that will be able to augment fixed electrical wiring with a more flexible layer that offers greater mobility and functionality to devices.
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"This new investment will enable us to deliver our high-performance wireless power solutions to provide versatile and intelligent power distribution worldwide," Davlantes said.
Reach claims that its technology is safe, highly scalable, and easy to use. However, any company that has to inform you that its product is safe always makes us slightly wary.
The company also reckons that it is built using state-of-the-art, patented technology, including high-efficiency power-beaming circuits, optimization algorithms, and "adaptive electromagnetic surfaces."
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An animation [6]on Reach's website illustrates how it envisions the system would work, using a loading bay as an example working environment. In the illustration, this environment has a wall-mounted Reach unit that the company describes as a "Router", which automatically detects equipment enabled for wireless power and which devices are authorized, implying that some communication is used to configure power delivery.
The Router determines the optimal pathway to deliver energy to each device and is able to track changes in position and adjust pathways accordingly, delivering power until "all authorized devices are fully charged," the company says.
According to the company's online FAQ, the Reach system operates within the 5.8GHz part of the spectrum, which Reach claims is "the unoccupied edge of the unlicensed Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) spectrum."
Reach claims that its system is capable of delivering up to 50W to devices at distances of about 30 feet (9.1 meters), although the power delivered will depend on the size of the Reach router, the size of the target device, and the distance between them.
However, the company said it has also demonstrated both more distance and more power in certain instances, with its announcement specifically claiming that its defense-related systems would deliver even higher power over even greater distances.
According to [7]Reuters , Reach has already signed a contract with the US Department of Defense for prototypes that can combine multiple energy-beaming modules for stronger power transmission or longer ranges.
[8]Look! Up in the sky! Proof of concept for satellites beaming energy to Earth!
[9]Arms not long enough to reach the plug socket? Room-wide wireless charging is on the way
[10]Wireless powersats promise clean, permanent, abundant energy. Sound familiar?
[11]How embarrassing: Xiaomi and Motorola show up to high school prom both wearing remote-charging tech
[12]Oxford startup magics up metamaterials for next-gen charging
However, Reach isn't the only company chasing government funding for cable-free charging. Earlier this year, we reported how the Defense research agency DARPA was [13]seeking technology that could allow airborne tanker aircraft to deliver 100kW of power using laser beams to recharge drones in flight.
Meanwhile, a system developed by researchers in Japan [14]last year – but still at the proof-of-concept stage – can turn a room into a wireless power transfer system that uses multidirectional, distributed currents on conductive surfaces built into the walls to deliver energy. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
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[6] https://reachpower.com/solution/
[7] https://www.reuters.com/article/reach-funding/silicon-valley-startup-beaming-electricity-wirelessly-raises-30-million-idUSL1N32P2OY
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/10/esa_space_based_solar_power/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/01/wireless_charging_tech_paper/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/09/wireless_powersats/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/29/how_embarrassing_motorola_and_xiaomi/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2018/12/13/oxford_startup_metamaterial_nextgen_charging/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/14/darpa_drone_wireless_charging/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/01/wireless_charging_tech_paper/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Efficiency is king
...what happens to the distance squared laws?
Scientists decided that the squared laws were unworkable and abandoned them in 2022.
paraphrasing Hubert J. Farnsworth
Pigs might fly.......
If they can induce 50 watts of power at 30 feet, using 5.8Ghz frequencies, I would not want to be in the same room. In fact, I would not want to be in the same building, maybe not even the same street.
100+ years ago Tesla was trying this, and realised the laws of physics meant that it could just never happen in the real world.
Re: Pigs might fly.......
Radiated power limits put a stop to it....
Even in the US max Radiated power is 4W
and UK is 1W unless licensed when it becomes 4W
Both can be higher for point to point, but that is between fixed antenna which are above people........
Re: Pigs might fly.......
That's a nice power delivery system you have there. Would be a shame if it didn't get regulatory approval and you lost all your investors money.
Re: Pigs might fly.......
Of course the investors will lose money. Long distance (i.e. over a meter or so) transmission of useful energy is a non-starter (excluding directed energy weapons beams).
I'm sure the team know this but also know it's exactly the sort of thing investors who think they are too clever to bother with due diligence would back.
I can't wait to charge my (hypothetical) electric car using a Pringles can antenna.
Pringles can.
Depends on the flavour. But, anyway, you have to eat them all first.
Mine’s the one with bacon flavoured creppies in the pocket.
$30 million for a microwave oven and a tin can?
Count me in, can't wait to get my snout in the trough!
Re: $30 million for a microwave oven and a tin can?
And to The Pringles post.
Once you've popped, you can't stop.
Fries
Johnny: Mum! Mum! Danny got his brain fried! He walked through the power beam!
Mum: Oh for f sake Johnny I told you to keep an eye on him! At this rate you will run out of brothers!
Jennie: Mum it's my fault! I told him that he is a chicken if he is afraid to walk through the beam and no girl is going to like him. Now his brain is fried. *sobbing*
Mum: Oh don't think about it sweetie. He was a piece of work anyway. I'll call your dad and we will make a new one today!
Robbie: What, did he cross the power beam? I can do tha *zapped*
Johnny: Oh gawd dammit. My last brother. Robbieeeee! Why did you do tha *zapped*
(Mum rushing to help Robbie and Johnny) *zapped*
Jennie: Oh no oh no oh no Mum mum mum why did y *zapped*
Re: Fries
Were they French?
Re: Fries
On the upside, Dad had taken out millions of dollars of life insurance on each and every one of them, before having the power beam installed so that it points in *just* the wrong direction!
> DARPA was seeking technology that could allow airborne tanker aircraft to deliver 100kW of power using laser beams to recharge drones in flight.
To recharge drones in flight ? Their drones, or someone else's ?
Mil would love to put 100kW or even 50W 30 ft away, but recharging isn't the reason.
jeez...
There are so many reasons why this won't work that I can't be ar*ed to write them down... what sort of magical thinking are they using...
What's that smell?
Smells like roast pork. - Dr. Temperance Brennan
Final throws of VC madness?
This technology has been debunked repeatedly, and very firmly over the last decade.
Even taking the numbers at face value, since when could you recharge a vehicle in any meaningful way with 50W - that's around half the power of my laptop charger.
On the one hand, it's hard not to think that if people are really this stupid, they don't deserve to keep their millions. On the other hand, it's hard not to think of all the far more constructive things those millions could fund. If you're a VC and want to see something positive in this world, throwing money at ideas that don't pass the slightest bit of inspection is about as nihilistic as you can get.
Efficiency is king
Reach claims that its system is capable of delivering up to 50W to devices at distances of about 30 feet (9.1 meters), although the power delivered will depend on the size of the Reach router, the size of the target device, and the distance between them.
But at what efficiency? Even with beam-forming, what happens to the distance squared laws? Can we really justify millions or billions of devices that don't come close to the efficiency of a bit of copper wire?