Quote:
Originally Posted by Max
Hi,
not extracting power from atmosphere: I remember Tesla made some experiment with the car that run 90miles... but that was about air (actually space... they would said "aether") as "conductor" of the energy.
That is: there was a powerful RF transmitter tower (the kind Tesla loved so much... very-high voltage Tesla coil driven if I remmeber well, kind of a metallic tower at Colorado Springs... I remember an old picture of it... with kind of a "ball" at top of it, above Tesla's lab building) then the car has a "receiver antenna" made in similar way... and a tuned circuit to get maximum efficiency in the receiving process...
The RF energy radiated by the tower was then collected at selective rf receiver at car... then converted to DC for the car-engine ...electric motor.
Indeed, it was kind of very early energy harvester thing... the radiated power (many kilowatts I guess) were collected at receiver and provide energy to the propulsion system of the car.
Due to the slight attenuation in the 90miles range from transmitter and carefully tuned rx the car was able to get enough power to run...
This was a demo of how electric energy can be translated in RF and then radiated in the space for remote powering of devices... just that happened in the kilowatts range of power!  No like RFID and the like... that indeed use very small power and get also very few from harvesting that.
Also, I think today is not possible replicate such experiments cause all modern countries have severe regulation on emission power/frequencies...
A transmitter like Tesla's one could easy swamp any RF communication in a range of 100 and maybe also 1000miles around! 
There was also a kind of race for best idea in energy carring methods... like hi voltage dc vs ac etc and Tesla play a role in that along with other brilliant minds of that age.
T his experiment had no real applications (till today attention to remote micropowering) cause it obviously creates huge problems to radio communications and exposure to very hi EM fields (possibly dangerous for people and environment in the megawatts/gigawatts range).
So... not power from air/atmosphere but... just using "air" as channel. 
I read of experiments using air for generate power but that are really much more complex than Esteban's posted funny article... they use kind of suspended ballons (by some kevlar wire I think) at relatively high height from soil... there are that include hi-speed turbine inside... to use jetstreams and the like , hi height hi speed airflows... and other that in kind of "farms" collect charges from clouds... but I think there's nothing more than experiments and academic interest to them... not real potential of future applications if not e.g. in aerospace designs. 
Kind regards,
Max |
Hi Max,
Apparently, you did not read the article. The car that Tesla built did not receive power transmitted from a tower.
The tower near Colorado springs was a test bed Tesla used before he built his larger tower on the Atlantic coast. Its purpose was to transmit power, but not through the air waves. If you read Tesla's history, you will discover he worked for Edison, designing DC motors and generators. He made many improvements, but he could not convince Edison to convert to his better idea of AC generators. After some arguments with Edison, Tesla went to Westinghouse and told him how much better AC would work. So Westinghouse hired him to make an AC system. Edison then started a propaganda campaign against AC in order to help protect his DC power sales. Eventually, Edison lost, and ended up converting his generators to AC like everyone else.
After Tesla finished his work converting the world to AC power, he went on with his experiments to transmit wireless power, using large high voltage coils that were designed to resonate with some natural frequency of the earth. If you examine his patents closely, you will see he was transmitting power through the ground. The high voltage coil was mounted above ground because it would short out if it was buried, and because it needed to be above ground in order to get assistance from the upper atmosphere. The coil was only for inputting power and creating the correct voltages and frequencies needed. The power was sent out into the ground. J P Morgan, a banker in New York was financing his final experiments in this power transmitting tower. But when Morgan discovered that anyone could install power receiver equipment to tap into his power source without paying, he cut off his support to Tesla. Within a short time the tower was abandoned when still in the construction stages. Eventually the tower was dismantled before any power was sent from it.
Tesla was also the inventor of radio broadcast. In recent years it was discovered that Marconi got his ideas from Tesla's patents, and his long title of inventor of radio broadcasting was rescinded and given to Tesla. But Tesla considered air wave broadcast to be a poor method of transmitting for communications as well as for power. He figured that 95% of the signal is lost when broadcast into the air. But when broadcast into the ground, most of the signal was conserved. Tesla did however use methods to transmit and receive signals and power through the air, for purposes of power and communication on aircraft.
The story of the car did not happen until later, when Tesla had no transmitting towers to experiment with. He was living in a modest apartment, and he built the power transducer in his apartment with a hand full of electronic parts and some tubes that were normally used in radio receivers at that time. He ordered the electric motor made specially to his specifications by Westinghouse.
"Due to the slight attenuation in the 90miles range from transmitter and carefully tuned rx the car was able to get enough power to run.".
There was no 90 miles range from a transmitter. There was no transmitter. There was only an electronic box that Tesla built to be put into the glove box of the car, and an antenna. The 90 miles means he was able to travel up to 90 miles per hour. This same power source was also able to power a house. Nobody knows what the source of power was that he tapped into. This is because he never patented this method, and kept the details secret. Speculations have been made that he tapped into the same ionizing power source in the upper ionosphere that causes the 100V/ meter voltage gradient at the surface. ei: it is ultimately sun power working in the outer ionosphere layers.
Tesla began with the idea to generate power and transmit it to all parts of the earth to provide free power for everyone. He later discovered he could use his equipment to send more power than he generated -- power from the outer layers of the ionosphere where the sun adds power to the earth. This is the power source that is speculated was used to run his car. "Free power", in the sense that you don't pay for the power you consume. And it is the same power source that Esteban originally showed an article which was designed to tap into for free. Only, Esteban's example seems like a very crude way that maybe is not capable of charging a battery very well.
You can read the story of Tesla's car here:
http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_016.htm
You will see this is NOT an example of using the air for a transmitting medium to receive power transmitted from a tower on the ground.
Best wishes,
J_P