Dean Kamen plans to make his own hybrid cars!

[JoeReal]

Kamen unveils Stirling engine-electric hybrid car

MANCHESTER, N.H. - After years of tinkering, inventor Dean Kamen is ready to show off what he says is the world’s first hybrid electric car with a Stirling engine.

"I’m a car manufacturer! It’s so exciting," he said last week, showing off his state registration for his new car, listed as a 2008 DEKA Revolt.

The prototype, uses a recycled version of the Ford Think, an electric car that was discontinued in 2000. The two-seat hatchback can go about 60 miles on a single charge of its lithium battery with almost zero emissions.

In the trunk is a Stirling engine that powers the features that normally would drain power from the battery, including the defroster and heater, leaving the batter primarily for propulsion.

"You’re running a pure electric, which is enormously cheaper to operate and enormously more environmentally friendly," Kamen said.

If the battery runs low, the Stirling also can recharge it, so drivers wouldn’t get stranded.

The engines are named for Robert Stirling, a minister in Scotland who first applied for a patent on his "economiser" engine in 1816. They use external heat to drive internal pistons, creating clean, quiet power for almost unlimited applications and have been used on occasion to power submarines, coal mine pumps and generators. But engineers have yet to figure out a way to manufacture them economically for mass use.

Kamen started applying for and receiving Stirling-related patents in 2002, sparking speculation that he was working on a way to incorporate the engines into his much-hyped Segway scooters. He said he is in "conversation" with a group of Norwegian investors about producing the car and hopes it will be in production within two years.

Complete Article:
http://www.bostonherald.com/business...osition=recent

[Dave B]

I've seen the article over at ABG also...I don't get the hype. How is this not a simple conversion with a backup battery? I mean the backup battery may be unique, but geeze, this guy is a long way off.

[BigRedFed]

I've seen the article over at ABG also...I don't get the hype. How is this not a simple conversion with a backup battery? I mean the backup battery may be unique, but geeze, this guy is a long way off.

Otherway around. Simple conversion (of a Th!nk Electric) with a backup ICE. IE a range extended electric vehicle. IE the same configuration as the volt except that it seems he made the small twist to make the accessories always run off the engine instead of pulling from the main battery.

[Texas]

Dean Kamen’s following statement:

"If we can demonstrate the utility of the Stirling engine by putting it in a car ... it will leave me with an engine that I can use to supply electricity to the world."

Shows his real vision. I think he realizes that the Stirling engine in a car will never be as cost effective at a ICE but he has other much bigger plans. If you checked out his Slingshot technology (providing clean water to the world) you can see what his real mission is. He is looking to improve the standard of living for everyone on earth.

He is thinking that Stirling engine technology will be used to tap heat energy from various sources (solar, burning wood, burning waste, fermenting biowaste, geothermal, thermal mass, etc.) to turn an electrical generator. That will give people many ways to generate electricity in a clean an sustainable way.

I think Dean is on to something. If you can provide renewable and sustainable energy to the world's population and also give them fresh water and electricity you can start to not only improve the lives of billions of people but begin to tap the now wasted natural resource - human brain power. We cannot tap this resource or expect to improve their standards of living without solving the energy supply problem. There simply is not enough petroleum and other fossil fuels to go around. Not even close. However, Dean feels he can tap any natural and sustainable heat source to provide these necessary services for humans.

I wonder if Dean has taken the final leap and is developing a way to provide these now endowed humans with Internet services. With an advanced and rugged Internet connectivity you can now educate and finally bring people and jobs together. I'm thinking a global 4G system would bring the final pieces of the puzzle together. That would be the ability for video, audio, and collaborative data exchange. Imagine a villager in Africa with a Slingshot water purifier and Stirling electrical generator running off of the sun connected to his Internet portal just finishing a programming course and getting a job offer from Intel to write a device driver. His account just receive it's first payment. Now wouldn't that be something?

1) Sustainable and renewable Energy
2) Education
3) Job creation


So simple yet so many barriers to change. Dean, good luck with your Sterling engine powered electrical generator system. Does it have a name? Lightning Bolt?

[JoeReal]

The Stirling engine developed by Stirling Energy Systems is currently the most efficient device that can transform the sun's energy at the cost of $0.30/watt (I have mentioned this in some of earlier posting in long bygone days).

I don't think Dean Kamen is near that cost and price efficiency. If he does, and at a lot smaller scale device, then he has achieved a breakthrough. I am amazed at how he can easily advertise his products. GM should employ him to hype the Volt.

Anyway, I agree that it is good noble cause to make life better for a lot more human beings, BUT it should NOT be done in the name of one's own personal maximum (what the market will bear) enrichment to make it really noble, otherwise, it is no different than the rest of for profit companies, moral ethics be damned.

[pdt]

The Stirling engine developed by Stirling Energy Systems is currently the most efficient device that can transform the sun's energy at the cost of $0.30/watt (I have mentioned this in some of earlier posting in long bygone days).

I don't think Dean Kamen is near that cost and price efficiency. If he does, and at a lot smaller scale device, then he has achieved a breakthrough. I am amazed at how he can easily advertise his products. GM should employ him to hype the Volt.

Anyway, I agree that it is good noble cause to make life better for a lot more human beings, BUT it should NOT be done in the name of one's own personal maximum (what the market will bear) enrichment to make it really noble, otherwise, it is no different than the rest of for profit companies, moral ethics be damned.

Could you give a reference for the cost number?

[Dave B]

Dean Kamen’s following statement:

"If we can demonstrate the utility of the Stirling engine by putting it in a car ... it will leave me with an engine that I can use to supply electricity to the world."

Shows his real vision. I think he realizes that the Stirling engine in a car will never be as cost effective at a ICE but he has other much bigger plans. If you checked out his Slingshot technology (providing clean water to the world) you can see what his real mission is. He is looking to improve the standard of living for everyone on earth.

He is thinking that Stirling engine technology will be used to tap heat energy from various sources (solar, burning wood, burning waste, fermenting biowaste, geothermal, thermal mass, etc.) to turn an electrical generator. That will give people many ways to generate electricity in a clean an sustainable way.

I think Dean is on to something. If you can provide renewable and sustainable energy to the world's population and also give them fresh water and electricity you can start to not only improve the lives of billions of people but begin to tap the now wasted natural resource - human brain power. We cannot tap this resource or expect to improve their standards of living without solving the energy supply problem. There simply is not enough petroleum and other fossil fuels to go around. Not even close. However, Dean feels he can tap any natural and sustainable heat source to provide these necessary services for humans.

I wonder if Dean has taken the final leap and is developing a way to provide these now endowed humans with Internet services. With an advanced and rugged Internet connectivity you can now educate and finally bring people and jobs together. I'm thinking a global 4G system would bring the final pieces of the puzzle together. That would be the ability for video, audio, and collaborative data exchange. Imagine a villager in Africa with a Slingshot water purifier and Stirling electrical generator running off of the sun connected to his Internet portal just finishing a programming course and getting a job offer from Intel to write a device driver. His account just receive it's first payment. Now wouldn't that be something?

1) Sustainable and renewable Energy
2) Education
3) Job creation


So simple yet so many barriers to change. Dean, good luck with your Sterling engine powered electrical generator system. Does it have a name? Lightning Bolt?

I'll have to do more reading about him--I sure didn't get all that from the article. Lots of barriers indeed. How about that one nobody likes to talk about--religion. Reason #1 for moving to electricity.