赛格威发明人转战淡水净化

    曾发明便携式血液透析机和赛格威电动代步车的新罕布什尔发明家迪恩•卡曼目前正在推广一项新技术。有了这项新技术，我们面临的最为紧迫的问题就可得到缓解：为全球十多亿面临“水荒”的人提供清洁饮用水。这个名为Slingshot（得名于传说中大卫王打败哥利亚所使用的武器——以此暗示清洁用水问题的严重性，明白了吗？）的小盒子重约300磅，尺寸相当于宿舍中用的冰箱。它可以处理各种污水，甚至咸水，每天可以产生200至250加仑的清洁水。为了证明它的效果，卡曼甚至用Slingshot把自己的尿液处理成清洁水，还亲自喝了一杯。过去十年，卡曼一直在改进这项技术。它使用一种蒸馏工艺，不需要昂贵的微孔滤膜或水泵。他所面临的两个挑战分别是如何降低成本，以及如何在发展中国家推广这项技术。

    对于后者，这位发明家已经找到了解决办法。他旗下的工程设计公司DEKA位于新罕布什尔州曼彻斯特市，目前有员工400人，已经与饮料业巨头可口可乐公司（Coca-Cola）达成了合作。可口可乐公司认为，清洁用水将成为21世纪最重大的问题之一。公司不仅希望减少生产用水，同时也投入大量时间和资金，希望为大众提供清洁用水。卡曼说：“可口可乐拥有销售渠道，可以将Slingshot送到有需要的人手中。”他们的计划是向创业者提供设备，这样一来，创业者就能有足够的动力对设备进行保养和维护。

    据卡曼计算，扣除销售成本和电力消耗（设备所需的电量与吹风机基本相当），这款设备生产出的水，成本约为一美分/加仑，远远低于大多数发展中国家清洁用水的成本。卡曼相信，至2020年该项目将帮助500万女性创业者完成创业。

    另外一个难点在于成本。目前，Slingshot的成本约为7,000至8,000美元。不过卡曼认为，只要实现规模化生产，成本就会大幅下降。该设备在加纳的测试运行非常成功，他希望在今年年中正式投入生产。

    关于Slingshot的意外收获：卡曼相信自己的设备有商业市场。他说：“诊所对于医疗用水有巨大需求，为当地建筑提供淡水也蕴含着巨大的机遇。”

    不过，这位发明家首先得干掉几大行业巨头。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Dean Kamen, the New Hampshire inventor who brought us the portable dialysis machine and the Segway, is ramping up a new technology that may put a dent in one of our most pressing problems: providing clean drinking water to the billion plus people around world who lack it. Called the Slingshot (after David's tool for defeating Goliath—it's a giant problem, get it?), this 300 pound, dorm fridge-sized box can take any kind of sewage or even salt water and create 200 to 250 gallons a day of clean water. Kamen once demonstrated the Slingshot by turning his urine into clean water and drinking a glass of it.

    Kamen has been refining this technology—which uses a distilling process that doesn't need expensive membranes or pumps—for the past decade. His two challenges have been how to get the cost down and how to distribute the technology throughout the developing world.

    The inventor has the answer to the latter challenge. His engineering and design company DEKA, which employs 400 in an old mill in Manchester, N.H., has partnered with Coca-Cola. The giant beverage company, which believes clean water is one of the great issues of the 21st, not only wants to reduce the water it uses in manufacturing but also is donating time and money to bring clean water to the masses. Says Kamen; "Coke has the distribution channels to get the Slingshot into the hands of those who need it." The plan is to give the machines to entrepreneurs who will then have a motive to protect and maintain the equipment.

    Kamen calculates that the machines—not including the cost of distribution and the power to run them (they require about the same amount of energy as a hair dryer) can produce water for around a penny a gallon, much cheaper than what clean water costs in most of the developing world. Kamen believes that the program could have 5 million women entrepreneurs running businesses by 2020.

    The other sticking point is cost. So far the Slingshots cost about $7,000 to $8,000 dollars, but Kamen believes he can get that down dramatically with economies of scale. The units have been tested successfully in Ghana, and he hopes to start manufacturing them by mid-year.

    The newest twist on the Slingshot: Kamen believes there's a commercial market for his machine. "There's a huge opportunity for medical grade water in clinics and making fresh water locally for buildings," he says.

    But first this inventor has some giants to slay.