Pain Beam: Central Heating Of The Future

The temperature may be below zero, but you're not about to adjust the thermostat. Even in a light shirt, you're warm and comfortable – even if your breath does form an icy plume. Why? 'Cause you've got the energy-efficient heating system of the future: millimeter waves from your domestic Active Denial system -- or, as we've come to call it, the pain ray.

As Sharon found during her session as a guinea pig for the Active Denial pain ray, the beam is a very effective way of warming up your skin. And on a cold day, this might be such a bad thing.

We reported earlier on Raytheon's a patent for a security system which involves having millimeter wave emitters incorporated into walls or ceiling of a building. The aim is to provide a means of driving off intruders, but as the patent notes that the power of the beam can be varied from a very low beam used to detecting and tracking people, to higher power causing increasing amounts of heating (and pain).

But if you've got a system like that, why only use it for intruders? Set it to a lower level and it could replace central heating.

Of course, it's not a new idea. (Are there any really new ideas?). Ten years ago, New Scientist carried a piece titled, "Not cooking but warming - Serious researchers are turning themselves into living radiators by walking into giant microwave ovens."

This described the wacky idea of turning a room into a giant microwave oven as a means of keeping the people inside warm without having to waste energy warming up the air.

A microwave test room is unlike any ordinary living quarters. In the American experiments, one wall contained a hole allowing a standard
800-watt transmitter, about as powerful as those used in kitchen cookers, to beam microwaves into the room. The walls were clad in metal to reflect the microwaves around the room and to prevent them escaping.
These reflections can cause hot spots, areas where the microwaves become concentrated. So the room had to be "stirred" with large metal blades attached to the walls. As they revolve around their long axes, these blades reflect microwaves in different directions and prevent hot spots from forming—microwave cookers contain similar devices.

The guinea pigs were the researchers themselves: Charles Buffler, now at the Microwave Research Center in Marlborough, New Hampshire and his colleague Ronald Lentz. Their aim, to determine the radiation threshold at which humans could sense heat and the power levels at which this remained comfortable.

The results persuaded them that a household system could be viable.

Buffler says a home system would be a hugely efficient way of keeping warm. He calculates that microwave heating systems could cut household heating bills by 75 per cent. And since microwaves cause light bulbs to fluoresce, such a heating system could also double as the power supply for a system of wireless lights.

However, there were a number of problems with the idea. While microwaves would heat up internal organs, the skin always remains would still be cool and "you'd feel cold." However, a version using the Active Denial System's millimeter waves would be very different, and instead of warming your insides, it would efficiently warm your skin. Because the security system is designed to be able to track intruders and direct the beam to cover them, as a heating system it would be like having highly effective infra-red lamp that follows you around.

Outdoors, the system might be even more versatile. As well as allowing you to enjoy midwinter barbecues in comfort, it repel all sorts of pests. In addition to keeping out human intruders, it would keep birds off the fruit trees, prevent squirrels from digging up your bulbs
-- and discourage the neighbor's cat from using your flowerbeds as a litter tray. (Your own cat, identified by RFID chip or a tag on its collar, will bask in a warm glow all year round.)

But I can't see it being popular. Although the technology has improved, the main problem has not changed.

"Getting public acceptance of the idea will be the biggest problem," says John Osepchuk, a member of the American Institute of
Electronic and Electrical Engineers and a supporter of Buffler's ideas.
"At the moment we have a pervasive electrophobia. People are scared stiff of the prospect."

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