Kamen Pitches Low-Power Generators to Cable Operators
Segway inventor Dean Kamen is promoting a low-power generator designed to send reliable power to areas that can’t get electricity from the grid. He claims that this new generator, which his company DEKA Research and Development Corp. has spent $50 million developing over the past 10 years, can convert any fuel into electrical power in a clean, quiet and efficient way. Cable technologists aren’t ready to commit to Kamen’s project, they told us after he discussed the idea earlier Oct. 17 at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers conference. Time Warner Cable is intrigued by the idea and seeking to find out more, said Chief Technology Officer Mike LaJoie.
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For cable operators and other telecom service providers, Kamen contends the low-power generator could offer “microgrids” for providing backup power and helping to meet demand during peak periods. Each 10-kilowatt device costs $250,000 to produce, which would drop to about $10,000 each with high production volumes, he said at the Orlando, Fla., show. “It can do all sorts of things that other little generators can’t do.” Kamen said he has 440 U.S. and international patents. “The big power companies laugh at 10 kilowatts,” he said. “But IBM laughed at the first PC."
Several leading operators including Time Warner Cable, and the SCTE, are interested in the idea, their officials told us. SCTE has been working on energy efficiency with operators, as they seek to more efficiently use power at data centers and headends (CD July 24 p12). Time Warner Cable is looking at how to use the DEKA concept to power its numerous hubs, fiber nodes and other plant components throughout the U.S., as well as the thousands of cell towers that it serves with backhaul data service, LaJoie said. This exploration process is still at “a very early stage right now,” and he hopes the concept can prove viable, LaJoie said. “Frankly, I don’t know if it’s going to work,” he said. “I can’t tell you exactly where it’s going now. … But it sure can’t hurt to ask the questions.”
The 10-kilowatt device uses an external combustion engine based on the principles of the Stirling engine, Kamen said at the show. The 200-year-old technology has been used before, though never successfully commercialized. Kamen said the generator could work for cable operators because it’s easy to use and maintain, doesn’t need to be connected to the overloaded electrical grid, and has a long operating life. “This is an engine that absolutely does not care what fuel it runs on,” he told reporters after the SCTE appearance. “It’s closed, it’s sealed and it’s a continuous operation meant to run thousands of hours."
Time Warner Cable maintains roughly 1,400 cable hubs and 100,000 fiber nodes that require active backup power in the field. LaJoie said the company’s backup generators, typically run by diesel engines, now sit idle 99 percent of the time, using up a tremendous amount of energy. “It’s more about, are there ways we can do distributed power in a smarter way?” LaJoie said. “We have this growing demand for power … We do need to think about this in a new way."
Kamen said DEKA created the low-power generator about a decade ago to help bring clean water to the 4 billion people without access to it. Saying water-borne pathogens cause 50 percent of all diseases globally, he told reporters that continuous and reliable generating power is needed to keep the water clean. With the backing of the Coca-Cola Co., DEKA has installed five pilot “Slingshot” machines with power generators and water distillers in Ghana, Kamen said. He said he hopes this project will expand its reach to many more countries.
Kamen is lobbying cable operators to support his nonprofit called For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Started in 1989, FIRST has sponsored robotics design competitions for more than 250,000 students between the ages 6 and 18. LaJoie said SCTE has signed a memorandum of understanding with FIRST to stage a robotics competition at next year’s Cable-Tec Expo show in New Orleans.