Nikola Tesla - The Wireless Transmission of Power
Nikola Tesla - The Wireless Transmission of Power
Nikola Tesla - The Wireless Transmission of Power
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Nikola Tesla
Abstract
the ether. There were three popular theories present in the literature
of the late 1800's and early 1900's. They were:
1. Transmission through or along the Earth,
2. Propagation as a result of terrestrial resonances,
3. Coupling to the ionosphere using propagation through
electrified gases.
"...the air will serve as a conductor for the current produced, and
the latter will be transmitted through the air with, it may be, even
less resistance than through an ordinary copper wire".2 (Fig. 2)
Resonating Planet Earth
Dr. James T. Corum and Kenneth L. Corum, in chapter two of their soon
to be published book, A Tesla Primer, point out a number of statements
made by Dr. Tesla which indicate that he was using resonator fields and
transmission line modes.
2. "...the energy received does not diminish with the square of the
distance, as it should, since the Hertzian radiation propagates in a
hemisphere."3
As Dr. Corum points out, "The last sentence seems to indicate that
Tesla's Colorado Springs experiments could be properly interpreted as
characteristic of a wave-guide probe in a cavity resonator."5 This was
in fact what led Dr. Tesla to report a measurement which to this day is
not understood and has led many to erroneously assume that he was
dealing with faster than light velocities.
Dr. Tesla reported that .08484 seconds was the time that a pulse
emitted from his laboratory took to propagate to the opposite side of
the planet and to return. From this statement many have assumed that
Š his transmissions exceeded the speed of light and many esoteric and
fallacious theories and publications have been generated. As Corum and
Aidinejad point out, in their 1986 paper, "The Transient Propagation of
ELF Pulses in the Earth Ionosphere Cavity", this measurement represents
the coherence time of the Earth cavity resonator system. This is also
known to students of radar systems as a determination of the range
dependent parameter. The accompanying diagrams from Corum's and
Aidinejad's paper graphically illustrate the point. (Fig. 3 & Fig. 4)
PROJECT TESLA:
Knowing that a resonant cavity can be excited and that power can be
delivered to that cavity similar to the methods used in microwave ovens
for home use, it should be possible to resonate and deliver power via
the Schumann Cavity to any point on Earth. This will result in
practical wireless transmission of electrical power.
Background
A great concern has been voiced in recent years over the extensive
use of energy, the limited supply of resources, and the pollution of
the environment from the use of present energy conversion systems.
Electrical power accounts for much of the energy consumed. Much of this
power is wasted during transmission from power plant generators to the
consumer. The resistance of the wire used in the electrical grid
distribution system causes a loss of 26-30% of the energy generated.
This loss implies that our present system of electrical distribution is
only 70-74% efficient.
There are areas of the world where the need for electrical power
exists, yet there is no method for delivering power. Africa is in need
of power to run pumps to tap into the vast resources of water under the
Sahara Desert. Rural areas, such as those in China, require the
electrical power necessary to bring them into the 20th century and to
equal standing with western nations.
This concept is based on the fact that some nations, especially the
United States, have the capacity to generate much more power than is
needed. This situation is accentuated at night. The greatest amount
of power used, the peak demand, is during the day. The extra power
available during the night could be sold to the side of the planet
where it is day time. Considering the huge capacity of power plants in
the United States, this system would provide a saleable product which
could do much to aid our balance of payments.
MARKET ANALYSIS
Market Size
Market Projections
Allowing for down time and maintenance and the fact that the night time
off peak load is available, it is possible that half of the excess
power generation capability could be utilized. If 1,625 billion
kilowatt hours were sold yearly at $.06/kilowatt, income would total
9.7 billion dollars.
Methods
The propagated wave front will be reflected from the antipode back to
the transmitter site. The reflected wave will be reinforced and again
radiated when it returns to the transmitter. As a result, an
oscillation will be established and maintained in the Schumann Cavity.
The loss of power in the cavity has been estimated to be about 6% per
round trip. If the same amount of power is delivered to the cavity on
each cycle of oscillation of the transmitter, there will be a net
energy gain which will result in a net voltage, or amplitude increase.
This will result in reactive energy storage in the cavity. As long as
energy is delivered to the cavity, the process will continue until the
energy is removed by heating, lightning discharges, or as is proposed
by this project, loading by tuned circuits at distant locations for
power distribution.
Evaluation Procedure
Environmental Considerations
high as 2.5 mT. The field under a 765 kV, 60 Hz power line carrying 1
amp per phase is 15 uT. ELF antennae systems that are used for
submarine communication produce fields of 20 uT. Video display
terminals produce fields of 2 uT, 1,000,000 times the strength of the
Schumann Resonance frequencies.9
Future Objectives
The successful resonating of the Schumann Cavity and wireless
transmission of power on a small scale resulting in proof of principle
will require a second phase of engineering, the design of receiving
stations. On completion of the second phase, the third and fourth
phases of the project involving further tests and improvements and a
large scale demonstration project will be pursued to prove commercial
feasibility. Total cost from proof of principle to commercial
prototype is expected to total $3 million. Interest in participation
in this project may be directed to the author.
REFERENCES
The following four papers were presented at the 1984 Tesla Centennial
Symposium and the 1986 International Tesla Symposium.
FOOTNOTES
5. Tesla Primer and Handbook, Dr. James T. Corum and Kenneth L. Corum,
unpublished. Corum and Associates, 8551 ST Rt 534, Windsor, Ohio 44099