What comes to mind when someone talks about lightning? Fear, shock, some thunder maybe. If what Nokia has been testing at the University of Southampton’s labs eventually gets mainstream, that could change forever. Imagine charging your phone and getting that “battery full” notification after just a second? Nokia is doing just that.
Nokia’s in-house scientists joined hands with those from the University of Southampton to “simulate” lightning and see if they could recharge the Lumia 925 using the energy released during a lightning strike. And it worked. The Lumia 925 was charged in just seconds. The experiment proved that indeed devices can be charged using current that passes through air.
“Using an alternating current, driven by a transformer, over 200,000 volts was sent across a 300mm gap – giving heat and light similar to that of a lightning bolt. The signal was then stepped into a second controlling transformer, allowing us to charge the phone.”
Nokia is one of the pioneers in wireless charging which has since gained a lot of traction with Qi charging being almost an industry standard.
See the 60 second clip below for more:
http://youtu.be/RJTl2oqaWPs
