What if we could soon recharge everything … without cable, without loss, and without taking?
It is a dream that humanity has been doing for over a century. Nikola Tesla already imagined in 1901 a system of electricity transmission via the earth ionosphere, so where it would be possible to recharge his laptop or his wireless car!
His project, too ambitious for the time, never succeeded and probably precipitated the ruin of the inventor who believed hard as iron to the benefits of electromagnetism.
A team of Japanese researchers, led by Professor Hiroo Sekiya at the University of Chiba, may have just found how to get closer to this old dream by resolving one of the main technical brakes with wireless recharge.
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Dependence on load, a real problem of wireless recharge finally resolved?
Wireless recharge already exists. It is used on electric toothbrushes, certain smartphones, and even on connected objects. It is based on a fairly simple principle: an electromagnetic field is created which transfers the energy of a transmitter to a receiver.
Except that in reality, it gets stuck quickly. Because as soon as the load changes, for example, if your device consumes more or less energy, the system becomes unstable. He starts to heat, to lose efficiency, even to malfunction. This is called dependence on the charge.
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A very simple idea (and yet brilliant): let the AI Design the circuit
Rather than trying to correct the faults of these systems by hand, the Japanese team had an idea: to let a machine learn on its own to create the perfect circuit.
They have modeled the electrical behavior of the system with complex equations, by integrating very real parameters, such as component imperfections, losses in coils, or the famous parasitic capacity of diodes, a detail that plays a lot when looking for stability.
Then, they used a genetic algorithm, an artificial form of intelligence that is inspired by natural evolution, to test thousands of variants of circuits. Each time, the machine tested, evaluated, modified, improved … until you find the most stable and effective configuration.
Result: stable recharge, even when everything moves around
The system designed in this way has been tested on a “EF class” type circuit (those who like technical details will appreciate). And the results are stunning.
Where classic systems saw their tension vary up to 18 % depending on the load, the new circuit did not exceed 5 % variation. Above all, he has kept what engineers call zero tension switching, a property that guarantees optimal performance without excessive warm -up.
Clearly, even when the load varies, the system remains stable, efficient, and efficient. It delivers up to 23 watts of power with 86.7 % efficiency, which is an excellent score, especially at high frequency (6.78 MHz, for the curious).
Even at low load, the system does not pick up. It remains fluid, reliable, and consumes very little.
Why it’s a little revolution
So far, everyone was trying to perfect wireless recharge by attacking one problem after another. The Japanese team, she took an intelligent shortcut: what if we entrusted the design of the circuit to a machine that includes physics and learns by itself?
It is a change of method, but above all, a change of perspective. And there are many applications.
Because if this type of system becomes reliable, inexpensive, and easy to integrate, then we can imagine it everywhere: in cars, in offices, on work plans, in public places, under tables, ceiling …
“It is an important step towards a completely wireless society,” explains Professor Sekiya. “And as this system is simple to build, it can be miniaturized and easily integrated into everyday objects. »»
His goal? That wireless recharge becomes a standard in the next 5 to 10 years.
The electricity of tomorrow … without headache
There is something very poetic to imagine electricity becoming as invisible as Wi-Fi. To no longer need to look for a charger, a cable, or a socket. To put his phone on a table and see him recharge.
But for this vision to become reality, technology had to catch up with our desires. This is what this Japanese research seems to be doing.
The most fascinating is that this breakthrough was not obtained with a single magic component, but with a new, hybrid approach, between human intelligence, physical modeling, and automatic learning.
Source :
N. Fukuda et al., “ML-Based Fully-Numerical Design Method for Load-Independent Class-EF WPT Systems,” in IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2025.3579127.
