A Wireless World

It’s easy to imagine: you’re far away from any outlet, and your phone is beeping, demanding to be recharged. The ten percent power bar is flashing in your face, creating a slight panic in your impeding phone-less future.

What if you didn’t have to find an outlet?
What if your phone could recharge without wires?

Kris McNeil is the President of Solace Power, and he recognized a need for change in the world of electricity and took charge. Literally.

While working for a mobile phone software development company, McNeil had to carry multiple phones while traveling to visit customers and the wires constantly became entangled.

“The frustration of managing those cables and others like them is the reason I first explored wireless power and its possibilities,” explained the President. “Wireless power is important because it simplifies many aspects of our lives, including many we don’t even see. Whether we use it for recharging our mobile phones and electric toothbrushes, or we apply it to manufacturing processes to reduce downtime and costs – it is available today and it eliminates a lot of problems.”

We all know the struggle: trying to continue our work online while the phone is plugged into a short wire, searching aimlessly for an inexistent outlet, or the inevitable ball of Christmas lights that haunts our holiday decorating nightmares. McNeil recognized this struggle and addressed our society’s need for a long cord of freedom. In fact, he envisioned a future without wires.

It’s easy to recognize the issues in our everyday lives, but how would wireless energy work on a larger scale in the oil and gas industry?

“Wireless power can offer intrinsically safe power couplings, either fixed or across rotating or hinged joints. Anywhere that power cables increase costs or maintenance, or otherwise cause problems, wireless power can be applied to help, subject to the specific environmental surroundings,” explained McNeil. “For example, if the use of a power cable requires an opening in an otherwise sealed enclosure or structure, and that opening creates the possibility of penetration by water, dust or other particles, then wireless power can help by eliminating the opening altogether.”

Wherever there is a wire, it is likely slowing the maintenance or the procedure down.The oil and gas industry could be open to endless possibilities that help reduce the time for processes and eliminate replacement of certain machineries, amongst numerous other benefits.

“Wireless power can be used to replace power cables wherever those cables cause problems, enabling greater freedom of movement while offering intrinsically safe power couplings,” stated McNeil.” Cables and connectors are often points of failure that require maintenance, and maintenance leads to downtime – wireless power eliminates such problems. An additional benefit of wireless power is the ability to lightweight products through elimination of cables and connectors.”

McNeil recently spoke at TedX St. John’s and gave the audience a small window into the future. Houses without outlets, singular Christmas lights hung on the tree, children bewildered by ancient mobile charging wires. He talked of a future with less confusion and frustration, faster processes, and a lot less clutter. That future is here, at the tips of our fingers, and Solace wants to help establish it across the industry.

“To date, Solace Power has worked in military and automotive environments, and we are exploring certain industrial applications – some of which are applicable to oil and gas. Solace Power is the expert in wireless power technology, and we seek out partners in each industry to help identify specific problems and processes that can be improved by eliminating cables and connectors,” he explained.

Solace Power is a problem-solving company. If you or your business is challenged by your current system, they can work with you one-on-one and discuss how these issues could easily be eliminated using wireless technology. In fact, it’s easier done than said.

Solace Power uses Electric field Resonant Capacitive Coupling (RC²) technology, which allows for complete freedom. While there have been wireless applications available, a slight glitch or misalignment in the power source and the product may stop charging. This can cause problems and makes for an unreliable source of energy. RC² takes notice of misalignment and compensates for it, allowing production to continue without a hitch. There is no longer a need to line up charging devices perfectly. In fact, Solace has made that possibility a reality and can even charge systems with an obstacle in between devices without any issues of blocking fields.

The company provides flexibility that can build their technology directly into your product in a lightweight, non-heating material.

So let’s step into the future. All that’s left to ask yourself is: what does your freedom mean to you?