Faces of Technology
Making Waves with
Underwater
Technology
In the 1980s, Ken Nagengast helped pioneer
the development of wet-mate connectors.
Designed to connect and disconnect
underwater electrical cables without water
leaking inside, this product would eventually
become a fundamental piece of equipment for
the offshore oil and gas industry.
“Before the connectors were developed, it was
highly impractical for the oil industry to get its
equipment subsea and operate at the depths
at which they’re operating now,” he said. “It
has enabled this industry to pursue oil reserves in
extreme ocean depths.”
Today, as senior vice president for technology,
Nagengast manages Daytona Beach’s
Teledyne Oil & Gas global technology initiatives
and oversees all engineers, including those at
the Technology Development Center. There,
a diverse team is working on the company’s
next-generation products – including modern
wet-mate connectors – for the oil and gas
industry, and applications in ocean science and
defense. Nagengast regularly challenges the
team with a battle cry of “Show me the Data!”
The advanced Technology Development
Center simulates the deep-sea environment.
It’s one of the harshest environments on earth,
where equipment must endure extreme
temperatures of up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
and pressures of tens of thousands of pounds
per square inch while dealing with the corrosive
nature of seawater.
According to Nagengast, these aggressive
deep sea conditions challenge the eficiencies
of oil production. The amount of oil retrieved
from a subsea well is typically less than 40
percent and as low as just 20 percent of the
total available oil, but engineers at the Center
are developing equipment to assist in making
the process more eficient. Using the same
material science applied to the heat-resistant
space shuttle tiles, the team is developing
products, such as interconnection equipment,
pressure and temperature sensors, that can
withstand similar extreme conditions.
“For the U.S., that means less reliance on outside
sources for oil because we’re increasing the
Ken Nagengast
Senior Vice President, Technology
Teledyne Oil & Gas | www.teledyneoilandgas.com
Education: B.S., Mechanical Engineering, New Jersey
Institute of Technology
Company: Teledyne Oil & Gas is an alliance of Teledyne Technologies
companies that delivers high-reliability engineered
interconnect solutions for power transmission, data
transmission and monitoring applications to the Oil and Gas,
Ocean Science and Defense industries.
amount of oil we get out of domestic wells while improving system reliability,”
he said.
Part of the Center’s capability for innovation stems from local university
partnerships, including the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida and
the University of South Florida, as well as a longstanding relationship with EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University, located just 10 minutes down the road. Each
summer, Teledyne Oil & Gas challenges teams of student interns in a competition
to solve a problem facing the industry. The competition has resulted in full-time
jobs for numerous interns and participation in the development of produ