WiTricity Corp. @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology
WiTricity Corp. was founded in 2007 to commercialize an exciting new
technology for wireless electricity invented two years earlier at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A team of physicists, led
by MRSEC-supported Professor Marin Soljačić,
developed the theoretical basis for this novel method for wireless
electric power transfer in 2005, and validated their theories
experimentally in 2007. The fundamental work done at this time was partially supported by the MIT MRSEC.
The magnetic fields of two properly designed devices with closely matched resonant frequencies can couple into a single continuous magnetic field. Prof. Soljačić's team showed how to use this phenomenon to enable the transfer of power from one device to the other at high efficiency and over a distance range that is useful for real-world applications. This “strong coupling” enables the devices to exchange energy via magnetism, and avoids the potential safety hazards and inefficiency often associated with radiated electro-magnetic energy.
