SonicEnergy (previously uBeam) was a US company that claimed to be developing a

wireless charging Inductive charging (also known as wireless charging or cordless charging) is a type of wireless power transfer. It uses electromagnetic induction to provide electricity to portable devices. Inductive charging is also used in vehicles, power tool ...

system that works via

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound with frequency, frequencies greater than 20 Hertz, kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible hearing range, limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply ...

History

SonicEnergy (previously uBeam) was founded in 2011 by Meredith Perry and won the University of Pennsylvania's invention competition, PennVention, in April 2011. It demonstrated its first prototype of the technology at '' The Wall Street Journal's''

All Things Digital AllThingsD.com was a US online publication that specialized in technology and startup company news, analysis and coverage. It was founded in 2007 by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, as an extension of the annual meetings ''D: All Things Digital ...

Conference, D9, in May 2011. uBeam received $26 million in investment from venture capitalists and investors including

Andreessen Horowitz AH Capital Management, LLC (commonly known as Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z) is an American privately held venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of M ...

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Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertain ...

and

Marissa Mayer Marissa Ann Mayer (; born May 30, 1975) is an American business executive and investor who served as President (corporate title), president and chief executive officer of Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017, when it was sold to Verizon. She was a long-tim ...

. By 2016, all of uBeam's original engineering team had left the company, with some engineers leaving before their stocks had vested.

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reported that uBeam privately demonstrated a working prototype of the technology at the

Upfront ''UpFront'' is a current affairs discussion, debate and analysis programme on Al Jazeera English. The show premiered on 4 September 2015 shortly after Al Jazeera moved into their new Washington D.C. hub. The show has a politics focus although ot ...

Summit on February 2, 2017. uBeam demonstrated wireless charging of several phones using an improved prototype such as the

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and the

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phones simultaneously to ''

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''. In September 2018, Meredith Perry stepped down from her role as CEO. She was replaced by Jacqueline McCauley as acting CEO. In December 2018, McCauley was replaced by Simon McElrea as CEO who restructured the company under the name SonicEnergy; Subsequent to this, McElrea stepped down as CEO in December 2019, and was replaced by Will Kain, formerly the company's CFO, as acting

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. Will Kain stepped down as CEO in May 2021. SonicEnergy has been reported to have gone out of business in February 2024

Technology

In November 2015, uBeam released technical specifications for its proposed system. uBeam's system would transmit ultrasound at frequencies between 45 kHz and 75 kHz, with a sound intensity of 145 dB to 155

dB SPL Sound pressure or acoustic pressure is the local pressure deviation from the ambient (average or equilibrium) atmospheric pressure, caused by a sound wave. In air, sound pressure can be measured using a microphone, and in water with a hydrophon ...

, and it would use a

phased array In antenna (radio), antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled Antenna array, array of antennas which creates a radio beam, beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point ...

technique to direct the beam. Polarised beam polymer speakers can direct sound energy within the specified physical structure.

Controversies

Some observers have been critical of the company's ultrasound technology, stating that uBeam's claims were unlikely to be achievable. Critics have also cited problems such as the difficulty of achieving high efficiency in sound transfer, achieving an unobstructed path for the beam, and the high absorption of high frequency ultrasound in air. Australian electrical engineer and blogger Dave Jones has been a frequent critic of uBeam, stating it "will never be a practical solution", and has offered detailed explanations on why "it will never work". In 2016, former uBeam engineering VP Paul Reynolds wrote a series of blog posts stating that uBeam’s technology did not work, saying that "While in theory Beammay be possible in limited cases, the safety, efficiency, and economics of it mean it is not even remotely practical." According to some former uBeam engineers, the technology would at best be able to supply a "trickle charge" to a cell phone, transmitting a few watts of power over one or two meters.

Ultrasound safety

Ultrasound energy has the potential to produce biological effects on the body, such as heating the tissues slightly. In some cases, it can also produce small pockets of gas in body fluids or tissues (

cavitation Cavitation in fluid mechanics and engineering normally is the phenomenon in which the static pressure of a liquid reduces to below the liquid's vapor pressure, leading to the formation of small vapor-filled cavities in the liquid. When sub ...

OSHA The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA; ) is a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. The United States Congress established ...

, citing a 2001 UK report, noted that hearing risk from exposure to very high frequency noise remained unquantified. uBeam claimed that the beam will cut out automatically if it is intercepted by objects other than the receiver.

References

External links

* (usurped site, {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520055605/https://sonicenergy.com/ , date=May 20, 2021 , nolink=y) Wireless energy transfer Ultrasound