“We can’t let these Eureka moments go by – the leap from workshop to shopfront is a huge one for small firms like Kaon Consulting”
Kaon Consulting is one of only 4 Queensland Companies to receive the funding.
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"This is an exciting Queensland invention"
Queensland Treasurer - Andrew Fraser
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Kaon Consulting Director, Dr Brett Watson, says the FuseSaver worked by detecting electrical faults in overhead powerlines and turning off the electricity before a fuse has time to blow.
“After a few seconds the electricity supply is restored and there is no interruption to electricity supply.”
Dr Watson said the response so far from Australian electrical utilities has been extremely positive. The FuseSaver offers enormous benefits to consumers, particularly those in regional locations. Sometimes it can take maintenance crews several hours to find and replace blown fuses.
“With the fuse protected there is only minimal interruption to supply, consumers aren’t waiting for crews to arrive, faults to be found and then repaired – it’s a win for the electricity providers too who will save money on call outs,” he said.
Dr Watson said the motivation behind the invention of the FuseSaver was the high number of transient faults in overhead powerlines.
“The majority of faults in overhead powerlines are transient faults, faults caused by short transient events such as lightning strikes, birds hitting wires or high winds,” he said.
“Often these faults rectify themselves after a short interruption to power."
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| FuseSavers mounted on a pole |
“Currently the only way to handle these faults is for a fuse to blow. Our FuseSaver interrupts the supply long enough for the fault to clear and quick enough to stop the fuse from blowing."
“If however the fault is more serious as soon as the FuseSaver reconnects supply and detects a fault again it will blow the fuse – so there is no danger a fault won’t be detected and we are talking just a matter of seconds.”
Dr Watson said the idea for the FuseSaver was born about three years ago when the company’s team of engineers, who normally design new and innovative products for other people, decided to invest in their own ideas.
“We generally carry out electrical design and product development work for other companies but the idea for the FuseSaver has been kicked around for a while now – the testing we’ve done to date clearly shows it can work,” he said.
“The support of the both the Queensland and Commonwealth Government will enable us to ramp up the development of our prototype and we could be ready for market by 2010”.
