All those flat TVs look so cool hanging on walls — until you realize that you have to wreck your living room to embed a power cable. But fear not, fellow cord-cutters, we may soon get to cut the last cable forever.
As tech journalist Ilse Jurrien reports for Dutch tech blog Let’s Go Digital, a new patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Office shows that Samsung is working on wireless, over-the-air power transmission that would allow you to hang your TV on your wall without the need for cables.
The Korean company’s patent — published on February 28, 2019 — shows a wireless power system with three components.
The first is a wireless power transmitter that would be placed on a credenza near the floor, connected to an existing wall electrical outlet, thus hiding any cables and avoiding construction work.
The second part is a sound bar that, in addition to the speaker system, has embedded dual coils. These coils receive the magnetic waves from the transmitter to power the speakers and transceiver part of the electricity to the TV.
This transceiver transmits the power to the third element in the system: the TV has a solenoid coil embedded inside its bottom, which will in theory have enough watts to power the display panel.
Over-the-air power transmission is not a futuristic dream from the mind of Nikola Tesla, but a very solid reality. Last CES, WattUp demonstrated such a system to power an all-in-one PC from a distance of 3 feet, capable of transmitting up to 250 milliwatts over the air.
WattUp’s technology is smart enough to power multiple gadgets at the same time, so it wouldn’t be crazy to think that Samsung’s living room TV system would be able to power a future Galaxy phone just by placing it near the transmitter, no power mat required.
As a cord-cutter myself, I can’t wait for a future in which there’s zero need for cables anywhere. So having a big corporation like Samsung working on making it happen — even while the actual product may be years away — is great news.
Noodleholz on March 6th, 2019 at 17:55 UTC »
TVs don't move, using a cord is a non issue.
Manufacturers desperately need new features to sell new TVs because I'm still more than happy with a 46" 1080p Samsung LED TV from 2012 that I recently bought used for 50€. The display quality is amazing, it's bright, the colors are nice, it uses only as much energy as an old light bulb and a 30€ FireTV stick turns even the "dumbest" TV into a smart TV.
giltwist on March 6th, 2019 at 16:34 UTC »
Oh good... now I can never be 100% sure the spyware in my smart TV is actually off.
Paul8491 on March 6th, 2019 at 13:50 UTC »
As if my aunt wasn't already uber-paranoid about monitor "radiation" melting my insides, now Samsung does this?!?