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Beaming Electricity With Lasers

A project log for Electical Transportation

I want to know if there is a better way to transport electricity than the normal power lines.

rio-kingRio King 04/29/2015 at 21:040 Comments

I researched about lasers beaming electricity.

With a laser beam centered on its panel of photovoltaic cells, a
lightweight model plane makes the first flight of an aircraft powered by
a laser beam inside a building at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

In the case of electromagnetic radiation closer to the visible region of the spectrum (tens of micrometers to tens of nanometers), power can be transmitted by converting electricity into a laser beam that is then pointed at a photovoltaic cell.
This mechanism is generally known as "power beaming" because the power
is beamed at a receiver that can convert it to electrical energy.

Compared to other wireless methods:

Collimated monochromatic wavefront propagation allows narrow beam cross-section area for transmission over large distances.
Compact size: solid state lasers fit into small products.
No radio-frequency interference to existing radio communication such as Wi-Fi and cell phones.
Access control: only receivers hit by the laser receive power.

Drawbacks include:

Laser radiation is hazardous. Low power levels can blind humans and
other animals. High power levels can kill through localized spot
heating.
Conversion between electricity and light is inefficient. Photovoltaic cells achieve only 40%–50% efficiency.[56] (Efficiency is higher with monochromatic light than with solar panels).
Atmospheric absorption, and absorption and scattering by clouds, fog, rain, etc., causes up to 100% losses.
Requires a direct line of sight with the target. With a laser beam centered on its panel of photovoltaic cells, a lightweight model plane makes the first flight of an aircraft powered by a laser beam inside a building at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

In the case of electromagnetic radiation closer to the visible region of the spectrum (tens of micrometers to tens of nanometers), power can be transmitted by converting electricity into a laser beam that is then pointed at a photovoltaic cell. This mechanism is generally known as "power beaming" because the power is beamed at a receiver that can convert it to electrical energy.

Compared to other wireless methods:

Drawbacks include:

It seams like that would not be a good idea because of the inefficiency.

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