Oak Ridge Today

ORNL wins four federal lab awards for tech transfer

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Open Port Sampling Interfaces for Mass Spectrometry, invented by Gary Van Berkel (left) and Vilmos Kertesz, features simplicity and elegance. (Photo by ORNL)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Open Port Sampling Interfaces for Mass Spectrometry, invented by Gary Van Berkel (left) and Vilmos Kertesz, features simplicity and elegance. (Photo by ORNL)

 

Four technologies developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have earned Federal Laboratory Consortium awards for excellence in technology transfer, a press release said.

The FLC is a network of more than 300 federal laboratories, facilities, and research centers dedicated to promoting and strengthening the commercialization of federal laboratory-developed technologies and expertise, the press release said.

The honors place ORNL in elite company, according to Donna Bialozor, FLC Awards committee chair, who wrote: “This year, your laboratory is one of a select number of recipients, an indication that your nominations were truly of the highest caliber.”

Mike Paulus, ORNL’s director of technology transfer, noted that it is especially significant that ORNL won four of the 19 FLC awards for excellence in technology transfer.

“With these latest awards, ORNL has now won 55 since 1986, reaffirming the importance and relevance of our research and development,” Paulus said.

ORNL earned recognition for the following technologies: [Read more…]

Samsung licenses ORNL glass coatings for electronics that can repel water, reduce reflection

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ornl-superhydrophobic-water-droplets

An ORNL-developed thin glass film with superhydrophobic properties repels water that carries away dust and dirt, reduces light reflection, and resists fingerprints and smudges. (Image by Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced this fall that Samsung Electronics has exclusively licensed a technology that can improve the performance of glass displays on smart phones, tablets, and other electronic devices.

ORNL has developed a transparent coating that repels water, carrying away dust and dirt; reduces light reflection; and resists fingerprints and smudges. The optically clear superhydrophobic film technology was the result of about three years of superhydrophobic research on glass-based coatings, ORNL said in a press release.

“The thin nanostructured layer of porous glass film enables these combined properties, making it suitable for commercial applications,” said ORNL’s Tolga Aytug, co-inventor of the technology.

To be superhydrophobic, a surface must achieve a water droplet contact angle exceeding 150 degrees. ORNL’s coating has a contact angle of between 155 and 165 degrees, so water literally bounces off, taking away dust particles, the press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL wins seven R&D 100 Awards

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A close-up look at the Open Port Sampling Interfaces for Mass Spectrometry, one of ORNL’s seven 2016 R&D 100 Award winners. (Image by ORNL)

 

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received seven R&D 100 Awards in recognition of their significant advancements in science and technology. The honorees were recognized on November 3 at the 54th annual R&D 100 Conference, which was sponsored by R&D Magazine.

The awards, known as the “Oscars of Invention,” honor innovative breakthroughs in materials science, biomedicine, consumer products, and more from academia, industry, and government-sponsored research agencies.

This year’s seven honors bring ORNL’s total of R&D 100 awards to 200 since their inception in 1963, a press release said.

ORNL researchers were recognized for the following innovations: [Read more…]

CNS, UT chemical sensing technology wins R&D 100 Award

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ChIMES CNS and UT RD100

The ChIMES team’s investigators each brought unique expertise to the project. (Photo courtesy CNS)

 

An inexpensive, small, and portable chemical sensor developed by Consolidated Nuclear Security researchers at the Y-12 National Security Complex and the University of Tennessee received a prestigious R&D 100 Award.

ChIMES, which is short for Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing, was selected as a revolutionary technology by a panel of 70 independent judges. This low-cost sensor has virtually limitless applications, including detection of chemical and biological warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, explosives, and illegal drugs, a press release said.

The sensor is the product of a three-year collaborative effort between CNS and scientists from the University of Tennessee. Y-12 researcher Vincent Lamberti, who managed the project, said: “The R&D 100 award reflects the importance in having strong partners in the advancement of a new technology. ChIMES surely would not have succeeded without the steady stream of innovations that were created in our collaboration with UT.” [Read more…]

CNS research teams named 2015 R&D 100 Award finalists

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LISe Thermal Neutron Imager Sensor Board

The LISe Thermal Neutron Imager sensor board bears the Y‑12 and UT logos. At the center is the lithium crystal that creates the images. The imager is nominated for a 2015 R&D 100 Award. (Photo by Y-12 National Security Complex)

 

CNS partners with universities on significant technology advances

Two teams of Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC researchers at the Y-12 National Security Complex are finalists in the 2015 R&D 100 Awards program.

The LISe Thermal Neutron Imager, or LTNI, and a sensor named ChIMES, which is short for Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing, were selected as finalists by a panel of 70 independent judges. The winners will be announced November 13 at the conference in Las Vegas.

LTNI (pronounced litany) was developed through a collaboration with three Tennessee universities—the University of Tennessee, Fisk University, and Vanderbilt University. The imager builds upon a lithium crystal that won an R&D 100 Award in 2013. Applications for the imager include research, diagnostics/medical imaging, law enforcement, and national security. [Read more…]

NNSA national labs, Y-12 earn 11 R&D 100 awards

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Ernest Moniz

Ernest Moniz

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Four National Nuclear Security Administration sites—Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia national laboratories, along with the Y-12 National Security Site—have received a total of 11 of R&D 100 Awards from R&D Magazine. The 2013 awards recognize a variety of technologies created by researchers, scientists, and engineers from throughout the nuclear security enterprise.

“My sincere congratulations to the winners of this year’s R&D 100 Awards,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. “The scientists and engineers who developed these award-winning technologies at the cutting-edge facilities across our national labs are keeping Americans at the forefront of the innovation community and assuring our nation’s economic competitiveness and national security.” [Read more…]

Y-12 technology brings licensee recognition

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The pairing of an environmentally friendly solvent invented and patented by the Y‑12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge with the business acumen of its licensee Scott Manley has gained recognition in two recent competitions.

Manley owns RockinBoat LLC, a South Carolina start-up that in 2011 obtained sole commercial rights to manufacture and market the solvent RonJohn. Teknikem, the chemical division of RockinBoat LLC, offers the solvent as its sole technology. Initially developed at Y-12 by Ron Simandl and John Brown for use in dismantling weapons parts, the 2011 R&D 100 Award–winning technology can completely strip adhesives and finishes from a variety of surfaces with advantages not afforded by other commercially available solvents.

[Read more…]