Thursday, April 24, 2008

The Return of Dean Kamen

Dean Kamen is the man. Mostly he invents medical technology. He invented a portable kidney dialysis machine. He invented Dick Cheney's pace maker. He invented a self balancing electric wheelchair that will raise up on two wheels so the rider can look the non-handicapped in the eye. He took that technology and created the Segway which I ride to work almost every day. And for the last several years he, or at least his lab, has been working on a revision of the vapor compression distiller.

From the reports that I've heard he's been trying to make a vapor compression distiller, which is already super efficient, and make it so it can run on almost any energy source. Gas, electric, sun, or wood. The generator would be a Sterling Engine which uses a thermal difference to run. The point being that they can be distributed in third world countries so that everyone can have clean water to drink.

Recently Dean Kamen went on the "Colbert Report" to show off what they have. The video can be viewed on the Comedy Central website by following this link.
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=164485

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