Cell Phones That Self Charge

Imagine if charging your cell phone were a thing of the past. A self-charging phone would be a lucrative invention and it is not outside the realm of possibility. The key is ambient electromagnetic radiation. Scientists in England have come up with the idea of harnessing the power of radio frequency and utilizing it to maintain a charged cell phone.

 Radio waves are everywhere. They are emitted by antennas, televisions, radios, Wi-Fi transmitters and bluetooth. This idea isn't completely new, as it is already being used in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). The concept was originally invented by the genius, Nikola Tesla, a man who lived before this time, in the 1800s. (Nikola Tesla invented the radio among other achievements, but, sadly, died without fortune or fame for his genius.) Radio waves drop off exponentially, so the key to farming the most power is to stay within a close distance of radio waves. In this day and age, it isn't that difficult.

 Nokia scientists are attempting to design a device that would gather waves from near and far. In this design, one circuit will collect radio waves and convert them to electricity and a second circuit will connect the source of energy to the battery for charging. Since this is in the beginning stages of design, the goal is just to be able to power a cell phone enough for unlimited stand-by mode. Current designs are able to harvest five milliwatts. Twenty milliwatts are needed for a continuous stand-by mode with no charge. Look for this technology in the near future. In conjunction with solar paneled phone casings, this could be on the market in three to five years.

 Solar power chargers are a future technology already available, and although not ideal for daily use, it is useful for hikers or people interested in living "off the grid". An hour of direct sunlight can power a cell phone for twenty minutes. How do solar powered chargers work? The energy from the sun is absorbed, which then knocks electrons loose in the "semi-conductor", allowing them to flow freely. Electric fields inside the solar panel force these electrons to flow in a certain direction. This flow is called a current. Metal contacts above and below can draw that current off to use externally.

 Another "off the grid" option is the hand-crank charger. Unfortunately, this technology isn't very useful yet. These cell phone chargers require a painful amount of cranking and result in very little charge.

 In the meantime, you are not limited to plain old chargers! There are chargers to meet your many needs. Already on the market are chargers for up to six electronic gadgets at once, chargers for your car/cigarette lighter adapters, DC power socket splitting chargers and more. Harnessing electricity will bring us future technologies that are helpful. But for now, the most helpful thing may be knowing that you can plug in several phones to a multi-unit outlet on your bed stand, and you always know where to find your phone.