A Levitating Light Bulb that Powers Itself Wirelessly! – Stuff That’s Cool [VIDEO]

Wouldn't it be nice if you could charge your phone or power your TV without having to run wires all over the place.  Looks like that may not be as far off as you think!

Chris Rieger, and engineering student at the University of Queensland, spent six months developing a light bulb that not only could levitate in mid-air, but also receive power without wires!

Rieger said that the most painful part of the project was the wireless power transfer functionality. He built an oscillator and a wireless power receiver circuit, which is a simple LC circuit tuned at exactly 1Mhz. Wireless power transfer is facilitated by a single large hoop of wire driven by alternating current at 1 MHz. This part of the system pulls 0.5A at 12V, bringing the whole of the consumption in at around 9 Watts. Then, a permanent magnet on the light assembly is used to levitate the light bulb.

[via Ubergizmo.]