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INEEL Honors Outstanding Inventors at Awards Banquet

In 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory honored 85 people whose work resulted in 31 U.S. patents.

Seventeen inventors were recognized for their contributions to the lab by being named on more than 90 U.S. patents. They were:

• James Davidson, who has extensive experience in applied physics, optics, and optical sensors.
• Vance Deason, who has experience in the areas of sensors, optical and ultrasonic imaging.
• Brad Gardner, is an acccomplished engineer in waste containment.
• Joel Hubbell has been instrumental in developing subsurface probe and measuring equipment.
• Peter Kong, who has more than 20 years of experience in thermal plasma synthesis and processing of materials.
• Dale Kotter - information was not available at the time of posting
• Gregory Lancasterspecializes in fiber optic detection systems.
• Paul Lessing has completed extensive in developing ceramics and other materials for high-temperature uses.
• Judy Partin has developed and provided applications to instrumentation for industrial processes.
• Eric Peterson specializes in understanding transport within selectively permeable materials.
• Richard Rankin, who has extensive experience in the invention, licensing and commercialization of new technologies.
• Herschel Smartt has more than 33 years of reasearch and development experience in manufacturing, materials processing, machine design and intelligent machines.
• Mark Stone, who specializes in finding innovative solutions to practical problems.
• Kenneth Telschow , Terry Turner and Michael Ward have completed research and development in the area of acoustic and ultrasonic properties of microstructures.
• Richard Wright - information was not available at the time of posting

The most significant new technologies include a solid polymer battery electrolyte, a flowmeter for measuring natural gas, Rapid Solidification Process (RSP) Tooling, and Super Hard Steel.

The latter two have the potential to revolutionize America's metal manufacturing industries. RSP Tooling involves spraying layers of molten metal onto a three-dimensional pattern to create full-size dies.

Super Hard Steel, which has been described as "a technological home run" is a new metallic coating which can significantly reduce abrasion and wear of steel machinery, instruments, tools and engine parts.

Created by INEEL researcher Daniel Branagan, Super Hard Steel is a metallic coating made by transforming steel alloy into a non-crystalline metallic glass. Among the hardest metallic structures or alloys ever discovered, Super Hard Steel was recognized as one of the top 100 technological breakthroughs in America during 2001, winning an R&D 100 Award.

Other patents resulting from laboratory research in FY 2001 included new processes and technologies in optics, safe destruction of organic wastes, material inspection, weapons detection, ultrasonic weld inspections, wave measurement, nondestructive testing of materials, computer simulation, robotics and the extraction and treatment of nuclear wastes.