Dr. Jordin Kare will be on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston this Sunday. Topics will include LaserMotive’s recent work on laser thermal rocket launches including being part of NASA’s Ride the Light project. This recent work showed some very impressive performance of laser thermal rockets (aka laser launch). Tune in to hear more about that and LaserMotive’s general work on wireless power transfer via laser!

The efficiency of wireless power delivery via laser does vary with distance, though the impact is much more pronounced near the ground than when delivering power toward the sky or space.

While not directly related to distance, the primary factor affecting efficiency is whether the receiver collects all of the transmitted light, or if some of the light “leaks” past the receiver. This is determined by the design of the transmitting optics and the size of the receiver. There may be reasons other than efficiency that also drive the size of the transmitter and receiver.

Assuming that the receiver is large enough to capture any light that makes it that far, the remaining factor is absorption and scattering by the atmosphere. Power transferred from point to point near the ground can suffer significant energy losses due to turbulence and dust. We can reduce that effect by elevating the transmitter and receiver so that the beam remains a reasonable distance, perhaps 100 feet, above ground level.

Power beamed near vertical suffers comparatively little energy loss because it quickly gets away from the ground effects. Scattering will depend on atmospheric conditions (e.g., dust, clouds). Absorption in the wavelengths we use is small. We can design for any range from millimeters to many kilometers, and we are working on system designs to beam power from the Earth’s surface to satellites and the lunar surface — it is possible to transmit power at reasonable efficiency over hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometers under the right conditions.

Geekwire has announced that LaserMotive is one of the five finalists in the 2012 Seattle 2.0 Awards Innovation of the Year category! We face some cool competitors, but nothing that will truly revolutionize such an important function in our world like the delivery and use of power.

The winner will be chosen by popular vote. Show your support for LaserMotive by voting no later than April 23. In fact, why not vote right now, here.

The awards show and announcement of the winners takes place May 3 at the Experience Music Project.

Wish us luck, and, better yet, tell all your friends and colleagues to vote for LaserMotive!

As we mentioned earlier this year, LaserMotive is listening to you, our friends, followers, and the general public and is answering some of the most frequently asked questions about laser power beaming, or, as we also call it, wireless power via lasers. We’re proud to post our answer to our first question: How does wireless power via lasers work?

We sometimes describe our wireless power solution as an “invisible extension cord” because, just like a real extension cord, it supplies power at a distance from your electrical outlet.

In our case, the process works much like solar power, where the sun shines on a photovoltaic receiver (solar cell) that converts the sunlight to electricity. We take electricity from a source such as a wall plug or generator and convert it into light (via laser). That light is transmitted over a long distance to a photovoltaic receiver that converts the light back into electricity, where it can be used to run a motor, charge a battery, or anything else you’d want to run on electricity!

The significant differences between our wireless power solution and solar power are that laser light is much more intense than sunlight, you can deliver the power anywhere that is in line of sight, and power can be delivered 24 hours per day.

More congratulations are in order for Avery Rich, the ninth-grade student at Cedarcrest High School in Duvall, WA, about whom we wrote recently. She has continued to have great success with her science fair project comparing wireless power deliver between a laser beam and a broader spectrum white light beam.

After winning the regional fair, Avery entered her project, “Beaming Power: Can Lasers Be Used To Transfer Energy Efficiently?” , in the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair.  Avery switched categories to Energy and Transportation and won a blue ribbon. She was also awarded a Wolfram Mathematica special award and chosen for a $20,000, four-year renewable scholarship to Ohio Wesleyan University.

Avery is going to visit our shop soon to see the work we are doing on developing the type of wireless power delivery she studied for her project.

Congratulations Avery, and we’ll look forward to seeing your success in future science fairs!

LaserMotive congratulates Avery Rich, a ninth-grader at Cedarcrest High School in Duvall, WA, for her prize winning Science Fair project, entitled “Beaming Power: Can Lasers Be Used To Transfer Energy Efficiently?”

Avery approached us in October about mentoring her in her research project, and we are delighted to see the thought, research acumen, and experimental skills she devoted to her study. You can see Avery’s project this Saturday from 1:00-3:00 when she competes in the Central Sound Regional Science & Engineering Fair at the Bellevue College Gymnasium, on March 10, 2012. http://depts.bellevuecollege.edu/sciencefair/

We recently had a chance to talk to Avery about her project.

Q: How did you get interested in power beaming as a science fair project?

A: My dad is an electrical engineer, and he has inspired my interest in building things. I am the only girl in my school interested in engineering, and my goal is to be an aerospace engineer. My specific area of interest is alternative propulsion technologies.

For my project, I initially wanted to study/measure the speed of light, but I realized it was too fast for the resources I had available. As I researched light, I learned about the wave/particle duality, and that piqued my interested in light. Then I read about solar power and thought about the conversion of light to energy. I follow NASA, and I read about the space elevator games, heard of LaserMotive, and I started reading about laser power beaming.

Q: What was your research question?

A: Are lasers more efficient at transferring energy over distance than other light sources?

Q: What was your hypothesis?

A: If the distance between a light source and a photovoltaic cell affects power efficiency, then a laser will have a more consistent efficiency over distance than a non-collimated light source, such as a flashlight, because a laser is more collimated.

Q: What was your research methodology?

A: I attached a flashlight to a metal track, aimed it at a solar panel, and measured the input and output voltage and current at various distances. I then did the same with a 330 mW 808 nm laser. I graphed the average efficiency over distance of both onto the same logarithmic scale graph and compared the two data trends.

Q: What was the result?

A: The flashlight graph showed a clear exponential pattern, while the laser graph exhibited a much more linear pattern.  The shape of the flashlight graph tells us that as the PV cell moves away from the flashlight, efficiency drops drastically and is reduced to little or no measurable power at all.  This confirms the expected cons of a non-collimated light source.  The linear pattern of the laser graph shows us that efficiency is more consistent over distance.  As distance increases, there is little to no change in efficiency when using the laser.  This explains how lasers can be beneficial in powering an object over great distances, because distance itself is not a primary factor in efficiency.

Q: What was your conclusion?

A: It was predicted that if the distance between a light source and a photovoltaic cell affects power efficiency, then a laser will have a more consistent efficiency over distance than a non-collimated light source, such as a flashlight, because a laser is more collimated.  This hypothesis was proven correct by the conducted experiment.  Thus, lasers can transfer energy much more consistently over distance than a non-collimated light source.

Q: What is next?

A: I will be presenting my project at the Central Sound Regional Science & Engineering Fair at the Bellevue College Gymnasium on March 10, 2012. http://depts.bellevuecollege.edu/sciencefair/. After that, I will continue pursuing my goal of being an aerospace engineer (and softball)!

The title pretty much says it all. As part of our fifth anniversary, we’ll be having our first tweet-up Friday, March 2nd, starting at 10am PST / 1pm EST. Send any questions or hellos to @lasermotive on Twitter. We’ll do our best to answer!

LaserMotive issued a press release today: “LaserMotive Marks Five Years as a Leading Pioneer of Wireless Power via Laser.” We will have more to talk about soon. Here’s the text of the release:

LaserMotive, an independent R&D company specializing in laser power
beaming and the only successful entrant and winner of the NASA-sponsored
Power Beaming Challenge, marks its five-year anniversary this month as a
leading pioneer in the emerging field of laser power beaming. During this
time, the company has set a variety of firsts in the advancement of
wireless power, including setting more than half a dozen world records
for laser-powered flight — the most by any public or private
organization.

LaserMotive has developed a wireless power system to transfer energy over
long distances using laser light, creating an endless source of power for
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), one of the largest growth sectors in the
aerospace and defense industries. LaserMotive has used the technology to
set its world records for laser powered flight, including the longest
duration of any type of beamed-energy flight.

Among the company’s technology achievements are:

– Only team to meet the challenge of the NASA-sponsored Power Beaming
Competition, more than doubling the minimum speed requirement
(November 2009)
– Blueprint for creating the first endless power system for unmanned
aerial vehicles. (April 2010)
– World’s record for longest tethered flight (August 2010)
– The longest beamed-energy powered flight on record at 12 hours, 26
minutes and 56.9 seconds (October 2010)
– Longest hovering flight duration for an untethered electric vehicle:
Limited only by the venue; the Ascending Technologies Pelican
quadrocopter and the LaserMotive power system were both capable of
continuing indefinitely (October 2010)
– Endurance record for any VTOL aircraft in its weight class (October
2010)

Among LaserMotive’s corporate achievements during this time are:

– NASA 2009 Power Beaming Challenge – Level 1 winner, receiving a prize
of nearly $1 million (November 2009)
– Honored by NASA for its achievements in laser power beaming in
Washington DC ceremony (February 2010)
– Finalist in the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s First Look Forum
(October 2010)
– LaserMotive Co-Founders Named Among 2010 Top Innovators of the Year by
Seattle Business Magazine (October 2010)
– Only private entity invited to have a display booth at NASA Day on the
Hill (June 2011)
– Selected as a Top 10 Defense Energy Technology Solution by the Clean
Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization (CTSI) in
conjunction with DoD (August 2011)
– Received investment by Space Angels Network, a national network of
seed- and early-stage investors focused on aerospace-related ventures
(September 2011)
– Contract to work on NASA “Ride The Light” game changing space
technology project for future missions (October 2011)

About LaserMotive

Headquartered in Kent, Wash., LaserMotive is a privately-held R&D company
specializing in wireless power via laser beam for commercial
applications. The company was co-founded in 2007 by Dr. Jordin Kare, one
of the world’s foremost experts on laser propulsion, and Tom Nugent,
former Research Director for LiftPort Group. Its industry partners
include some of the leading companies in aerospace and lasers, including
The Boeing Company, DILAS, MS Kennedy, Ophir Spiricon, Zaber
Technologies, and In-Tec. For more information on LaserMotive, please
visit the company website at www.lasermotive.com.

For more information please contact:

Belinda Young
BYPR
Telephone: 206-932-3145
byoung@bypr.com

Tom Nugent
LaserMotive
info@lasermotive.com

This month, LaserMotive celebrates five years as a company. We’ll be announcing more about it in the next few days, including highlights of some of our achievements on the road to commercializing laser power beaming. Stay posted via our blog, Facebook, and Twitter for more details!

As many of our followers know, we are developing a number of applications of laser power beaming that are of interest to the Department of Defense, particularly for powering  unmanned aerial vehicles. Unmanned drones used for surveillance offer protection both domestically and abroad, while minimizing the risk to human life. DoD plans to spend $300M on new small UAVs over the next four years. Laser power beaming can help make UAVs more cost efficient as well as empower them with new capabilities by providing an unlimited fuel supply without the need to land. At LaserMotive, we are working diligently to turn this potential of unlimited flight duration into reality, as we showed in our record-setting demonstration flight of a quadrocopter.

The process of working with DoD is a multi-layered path that can take many twists and turns. An example is a recent invitation by the Army Research Lab to participate in an experimentation week, where we would incorporate a laser-powered UAV into a training scenario. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities, but the path to get to this point goes back some time, including a presentation last year by LaserMotive after we were selected as a Top 10 Defense Energy Technology Solution. This is just one example of some of the “behind the scenes” work we’re doing in this important market, and we have similar efforts underway with all the branches of the military.