INTRODUCTION

WiTricity, a portmanteau for "wireless electricity", is a trademark of WiTricity corporation[1], an American engineering company, referring to their devices and processes which use a form of wireless energy transfer including resonant energy transfer etc., the ability to provide electrical energy to remote objects without wires using oscillating magnetic fields. The conventional use of electricity is made possible through the use of wires. However researchers in MIT have devised a means of providing electricity without any wires. These researchers coined the term witricity; which is basically a portmanteau for wireless electricity. This principle of wireless electricity works on the principle of using coupled resonant objects for the transference of electricity to objects without the use of any wires. A vitricity system consists of a witricity transmitter and another device called the receiver.

INVENTORS OF WITRICITY
The inventors of witricity are the researchers from the team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They are the people who had coined the phrase of witricity and this invention can change the way electricity is used today. With witricity, the tangle of cables, plugs and charters that normally clutter homes can be rid of. This team from MIT belonged to the Department of Physics, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. The members of this team were Andre Kurs, Aristeidis Karalis, Prof. Peter Fisher, Robert Moffatt and Prof. John Joannopoulos. The leader of this team of researchers was Prof. Marin Soljacic. It was Prof. Marin Soljacic who provided the inspiration for the experiment and invention of witricity. It was while standing in the kitchen one night, that on staring at his mobile phone that he had thought it would be nice if his mobile phone would take care of its own charging instead of him having to periodically charge it. He then tried out his experiment using two coils of copper, where one was connected to a receiver, and the other to a transmitter. With the help of these two coils of copper, the inventors of witricity managed to transmit power across seven feet through the air to instantly light up a light bulb.Though witricity worked only distances up till 9 feet at its inception, the inventors believed that it was possible to charge a battery that was located at a distance of a few yards from the power source that was connected to the receiving

coil. They state that it would be sufficient to place a source in each room to provide power to the whole house.

WITRICITY TECHNOLOGY
Understanding what WiTricity technology istransferring electric energy or power over distance without wiresis quite simple. Understanding how it works is a bit more involved, but it doesnt require an engineering degree. Well start with the basics of electricity and magnetism, and work our way up to the WiTricity technology. Electricity: The flow of electrons (current) through a conductor (like a wire), or charges through the atmosphere (like lightning). A convenient way for energy to get from one place to another! Magnetism: A fundamental force of nature, which causes certain types of materials to attract or repel each other. Permanent magnets, like the ones on your refrigerator and the earths magnetic field, are examples of objects having constant magnetic fields. Oscillating magnetic fields vary with time, and can be generated by alternating current (AC) flowing on a wire. The strength, direction, and extent of magnetic fields are often represented and visualized by drawings of the magnetic field lines.

Electromagnetism: A term for the interdependence of time-varying electric and magnetic fields. For example, it turns out that an oscillating magnetic field produces an electric field and an oscillating electric field produces a magnetic field.

Magnetic Induction: A loop or coil of conductive material like copper, carrying an alternating current (AC), is a very efficient structure for generating or capturing a magnetic field. If a conductive loop is connected to an AC power source, it will generate an oscillating magnetic field in the vicinity of the loop. A second conducting loop, brought close enough to the first, may capture some portion of that oscillating magnetic field, which in turn, generates or induces an electric current in the second coil. The current generated in the second coil may be used to power devices. Energy/Power Coupling: Energy coupling occurs when an energy source has a means of transferring energy to another object. One simple example is a locomotive pulling a train carthe mechanical coupling between the two enables the locomotive to pull the train, and overcome the forces of friction and inertia that keep the train stilland, the train moves. Magnetic coupling occurs when the magnetic field of one object interacts with a second object and induces an electric current in or on that object. In this way, electric energy can be transferred from a power source to a powered device.

Resonance: Resonance is a property that exists in many different physical systems. It can be thought of as the natural frequency at which energy can most efficiently be added to an oscillating system. A playground swing is an example of an oscillating system involving potential energy and kinetic energy. The child swings back and forth at a rate that is determined by the length of the swing. The child can make the swing go higher if she properly coordinates her arm and leg action with the motion of the swing. The swing is oscillating at its resonant frequency and the simple movements of the child efficiently transfer energy to the system. Another example of resonance is the way in which a singer can shatter a wine glass by singing a single loud, clear note. In this example, the wine glass is the resonant oscillating system. Sound waves traveling through the air are

captured by the glass, and the sound energy is converted to mechanical vibrations of the glass itself. When the singer hits the note that matches the resonant frequency of the glass, the glass absorbs energy, begins vibrating, and can eventually even shatter. The resonant frequency of the glass depends on the size, shape, thickness of the glass, and how much wine is in it. Resonant Magnetic Coupling: Magnetic coupling occurs when two objects exchange energy through their varying or oscillating magnetic fields. Resonant coupling occurs when the natural frequencies of the two objects are approximately the same. WiTricity Technology: WiTricity power sources and capture devices are specially designed magnetic resonators that efficiently transfer power over large distances via the magnetic near-field. These proprietary source and device designs and the electronic systems that control them support efficient energy transfer over distances that are many times the size of the sources/devices themselves.

Witricity power source, left, is connected to AC power. The blue lines represent the magnetic near field induced by the power source. The yellow lines represent the flow of energy from the source to the WiTicity capture coil, which is shown powering a light bulb. Note that this diagram also shows how the magnetic field (blue lines) can wrap around a conductive obstacle between the power source and the capture device.

FIRST EXPERIMENT OF WITRICITY

The first experiment of witricity, the concept of wireless electricity, was conducted in the year 2006, by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Assistant Professor of this team of researchers was Marin Soljacic. This experiment was done using two copper coils of diameter two feet, a transmitter that was attached to a power source and a receiver that was placed about seven feet from the transmitter. This receiver was attached to a light bulb and once power was switched on at the transmitter, the bulb lit up despite there being no physical connection between the transmitter and receiver. Data collected through measurements showed that there was transference of 40% of electricity through witricity. The interesting part of the electricity was that the bulb glowed despite the fact that wood, metal and other devices were placed in between the two coils.

This concept of witricity was made possible using resonance where an object vibrates with the application of a certain frequency of energy. So two objects having similar resonance tend to exchange energy without causing any effects on the surrounding objects. Just like in acoustic resonance, where there is a chance of a glass breaking if you strike the right tone, witricity is made possible with the resonance of low frequency electromagnetic waves. In this experiment, the coils were resonated at 10 MHz where the cols coupled and energy made to flow between them. With each cycle, more pressure and voltage built up in the coil till the accumulation of voltage provided enough pressure and energy to flow to the light bulb. These low frequency electromagnetic waves are rather safe as though the body responds strongly to electric fields; it has almost zero response to absorbing power from a magnetic field.

WITRICITY APPLICATIONS
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a means of transferring electricity without using any wires. They have dubbed this technology as witricity and has declared that there are many potential applications for it. Some of these potential applications include the powering of cell phones, household robots, laptops and other devices that normally run with the help of batteries or with plugging in of wires. As witricity is in the developmental stage, lots of work is still to be done in improving it as the device used for their research disclosed that witricity power applications operate at only 40% efficiency. The potential applications of witricity are expected to materialize in the new future, of say a few years time, after the necessary modifications are made to them.

Consumer Electronics

Automatic wireless charging of mobile electronics (phones, laptops, game controllers, etc.) in home, car, office, Wi-Fi hotspots while devices are in use and mobile. Direct wireless powering of stationary devices (flat screen TVs, digital picture frames, home theater accessories, wireless loud speakers, etc.) eliminating expensive custom wiring, unsightly cables and wall-wart power supplies. Direct wireless powering of desktop PC peripherals: wireless mouse, keyboard, printer, speakers, display, etc eliminating disposable batteries and awkward cabling.

Industrial

Direct wireless power and communication interconnections across rotating and moving joints (robots, packaging machinery, assembly machinery, machine tools) eliminating costly and failure-prone wiring. Direct wireless power and communication interconnections at points of use in harsh environments (drilling, mining, underwater, etc.) where it is impractical or impossible to run wires. Direct wireless power for wireless sensors and actuators, eliminating the need for expensive power wiring or battery replacement and disposal. Automatic wireless charging for mobile robots, automatic guided vehicles, cordless tools and instrumentseliminating complex docking mechanisms, and labor intensive manual recharging and battery replacement.

Transportation

Automatic wireless charging for existing electric vehicle classes: golf carts, industrial vehicles. Automatic wireless charging for future hybrid and all-electric passenger and commercial vehicles, at home, in parking garages, at fleet depots, and at remote kiosks. Direct wireless power interconnections to replace costly vehicle wiring harnesses and slip rings.

FUTURE WITH WITRICITY

Modern science has now made it possible to use electricity without having to plug in any wires. This concept is called witricty which seems to have a bright future in providing wireless electricity. Researchers developed witricity using resonance where energy is transmitted between two copper coils that resonate at the same frequency. Of these two coils, one is the power transmitter and the other, the receiver. The advantage of witricity is that there is no need of having a line of sight. As long as the object to be powered has a source of wireless power, in its vicinity, the appliacnce charges automatically without having to be plugged in. Just imagine the future, with witricity, where there will be no need of power cables and batteries. The city just has to be covered with witricity hot spots wherein you can use your electric gadget battery and wire free making it more convenient to carry around and much lighter. With witricity, there will be no need of charging batteries, or buying new batteries for your electrical gadgets. Just as beneficial witricity may be, there are some contraindications to the concept, with debates if it is risky living next to power lines and having a low power witricity network running in the home. They wonder what happens if a glass of water is spilt in a witricity

room. However despite these contraindications, witricity has a bright future with the many advantages it provides in terms of weight, convenience and portability of electrical appliances.

CONCLUSION
We can envisage a future in which the world of wireless arrives with witricity. Witricity corp. is working to make this future a reality, developing wireless electricity technology that will operate safely and efficiently over long distances ranging from m to km and will deliver power ranging from mW to kW. The transmission of power without wires is not a theory or a mere possibility, it is now a reality. The electrical energy can be economically transmitted without wires to any terrestrial distance. Wireless transmission of electricity have tremendous merits like high transmission integrity and Low Loss (90 97 % efficient) and can be transmitted to any where in the globe and eliminate the need for an inefficient, costly, and capital intensive grid of cables, towers, and substations. The system would reduce the cost of electrical energy used by the consumer and get rid of the landscape of wires, cables, and transmission towers. It has negligible demerits like reactive power which was found insignificant and biologically compatible.