Sustainable Packaging — It’s better being green

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DuPont: A selection of packaging technologies

Packaging material, structure design, and material modification technologies from DuPont provide high functionality to meet the needs of a wide range of industries (food, personal care, medical, electronics, etc.) This presentation will overview these capabilities and provide 1-2 interesting examples.

Contact Mark Saulich (msaulich@yet2.com).

Avery Dennison: Microporous membrane

Avery Dennison has developed a novel process for making microporous polymer materials based on a wide range of thermoplastic polymers, many of which have been difficult to process by existing techniques. We have the ability to manage pore size to a tight distribution in the Microfiltration range, and it is possible to entrap insoluble particles into the pore structure. Moreover, we can generate specific porous regions on a film or generate surface porosity on an otherwise non-permeable film. Multi-layer films, polymer blends and polymers with fillers can also be processed.

Contact Emma Hughes (ehughes@yet2.com).

Applied Minerals: Halloysite nanotubular clay

Halloysite is a unique, nanotubular clay. Halloysite offers many of the advantages of plate type nanoclays but without the disadvantages. For example, Halloysite provides significant property enhancements to plastics, coatings and elastomers but is easy to disperse and handle. Halloysite boosts modulus and strength by ~20% at just 1 weight % filler but unlike platy nanoclays it can be used at loadings up to 40 weight % in other applications such as flame retardancy where Halloysite has already proven effective.

As well as being a safe, natural filler, Halloysite is able to deliver controlled, sustained release of actives loaded within the hollow tubular particles. Examples include insecticides, antioxidants, drugs, anti-microbials, and lubricants to name just a few. Key applications include plastics, coatings, cosmetics, and water and soil remediation. Seeking strategic partners to accelerate time to market. Due to the high potential of Halloysite in multiple markets, Applied Minerals is only focused on penetrating select markets directly and other markets through partnerships.

Contact Hanna Adeyema (hadeyema@yet2.com).

XG Sciences: xGnP Graphene nanoplatelets

XG Sciences manufactures a new type of nanoparticle called xGnP® Graphene Nanoplatelets. This material consists of short stacks of graphene and, thus, this material shares the properties of graphene — it is the strongest known material, it is one of the stiffest materials, it is impermeable to essentially everything, it is highly electrically conductive and it has the highest thermal conductivity of any non-metal. Because of these properties, it has the potential to revolutionize products ranging from advanced composites to packaging to batteries.

XGS uses a proprietary process to manufacture platelets in various sizes. Our process is a “non-oxidizing” process, so our material, compared with other types of graphene, is typically mechanically stronger and is more electrically conductive by about two orders of magnitude. Graphene is one of the hottest areas of materials science, and we have customers or research partners working with our material as an additive for advanced composites, to improve electrode performance in li-ion, li-air, and hybrid batteries, in ultracapacitors, as a component of electrically-conductive coating systems, and for thermal management applications.

Contact Tim Bernstein (tbernstein@yet2.com).

Materials — Unique materials for unique applications

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Nissan Motor: Self-healing slide-ring material (SRM) paint

The self-repairing paint repairs fine scratches, restoring a surface close to its original state. After being scratched, a surface painted with this paint will have one-fifth the number of scratches compared with a surface painted with a conventional clear coat.

The paint is able to heal about 80% of surface abrasions by itself, almost immediately. The coating is already commercialized in Japan. The product comprises polymer chains that freely slide through the cross-linked molecules, forming a supramolecular network. When disturbed by minor abrasions, the cross-linked molecules retain mobility and the coating redistributes its tension to “slide” back into place along the polymer chains, erasing the abrasion. Chemically, the coating is an oleophilic polyrotaxane. Its solubility and ability to react with curing agents make it highly applicable to coating resins. In operation, the paint resists cracking and peeling, offers improved elasticity and impact resistance, and is unsusceptible to fouling and adhesion. By using Slide-Ring Material (SRM) paint, minor scratches and marring disappear almost immediately (within a week for more extensive scratching).

Contact Hideyuki Fujii (hfujii@yet2.com).

yet2.com presents: Melt-Film Fibrillation produces nano-scale fibers with meltblown production throughput

Melt-Film Fibrillation (MFF) is a high-throughput nano-scale fiber production technology that creates nonwovens with 90% of fibers consistently under one micron. MFF technology produces electro-spun-quality submicron fibers at meltblown economics, throughput, speed, and raw materials. The technology can be retrofit to existing melt-blown equipment and configurations. The environmental impact of a switch to MFF is negligible. The technology is comparable to meltblown in energy use, air management, worker exposures, and exposures to resins (which are recyclable). Fibers make uniform fabrics with minimal defects. The technology has been demonstrated with polypropylene and will likely work with a wide variety of polymer materials, and is compatible with additives included with the polymeric melt or applied after formation of the web.

Contact Hanna Adeyema (hadeyema@yet2.com).

Prime Separations, Inc.: Continuous separation/purification technology

Existing separation/purification technologies are generally columnar, and thus limited in their scalability. PSI Highmark’s technology is a patented, continuous process, disposable, scalable approach. It uses film and capture and release chemistries at sequenced stations to enable highly selective capture and release of complex compounds. It has applications into food (remove toxins), pharma (remove impurities), metals (remove or collect heavy, toxic, etc metals), remediation, wafer fabs, etc. Prototypes have demonstrated 10–1000x cheaper separation than incumbent technologies such as column-based chromatography.

Contact Tim Bernstein (tbernstein@yet2.com).

Datec: High-performance sol-gel heating technology

Datec is a high performance thick-film heating technology available on an extremely wide selection of substrates. The “Datec Process” allows creation of dense, hard, wear-resistant ceramic coatings on metallic components for many different applications without the use of expensive deposition techniques. Datec’s compatibility is the result of two key features:

1. low processing temperature allows the heaters to be deposited on materials with low melting temperatures such as aluminum and aluminum alloys
2. inherent flexibility of the heater microstructure allows heaters to be deposited on substrates with high CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion)

As a result, this process could be used to create an iron that would heat to the desired temperature in 9 seconds with a cost position comparable to or better than the current ceramic heaters being used today.

Contact Tim Bernstein (tbernstein@yet2.com).

Personal Medical Devices — Knowing and helping

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Kimberly-Clark: Quantitative lateral-flow diagnostics

Kimberly Clark has developed an extensive proprietary portfolio of technologies relevant for immunochromatographic strip testing (lateral flow). Technologies in the portfolio deal with all steps and all components of the tests strips and devices from sample preparation to actual antibodies and readers. In particular Kimberly Clark enables to resolve many limitations on a hook effect, improve sensitivity and separation. Metering, calibration and quality control of the strip in combination with novel reader technologies make it possible to obtain quantitative results from multiple analytes.

This technology should find a number of applications, ranging from clinical diagnostics, detection of chemical and biological warfare agents, to food and environmental monitoring.

Contact Dr. Eugene Buff (ebuff@yet2.com).

Advanced Brain Monitoring: SmartNap real-time measurement of sleep stages and induced optimal rest

The SmartNap is a first-of-its-kind device which implements real-time measurement of a wearer’s sleep stages and then induces higher and lower sleep stages as needed to optimize rest. Functional components including facial warmth, low-level luminescent blue light and auditory cues are scientifically proven capable of influencing sleep stages. However, never before has a device used EEG-driven algorithms to steer the wearer through ideal cycles. When set to wake a user at a pre-specified time, SmartNap will induce higher stages in anticipation of waking up to directly avoid grogginess and the effects of sleep inertia. The sleek design is lightweight, comfortable and completely eliminates environmental distractions for the user as they rest.

Contact Dr. Eugene Buff (ebuff@yet2.com).

Cantimer: Rapid-response sensing technology

Cantimer’s sensing technology platform consists of a piezo-resistive micro-cantilever embedded in a tiny droplet of an analyte-responsive, sensing polymer. When exposed to the analyte or property for which it has been designed, the physical characteristics of the polymer change (essentially it swells or contracts) deflecting the micro-cantilever upwards or downwards and thereby creating a resistance change in the base that can be detected with simple electronics. The volumetric shift in the polymer may be due to diffusion of the analyte molecule into the polymer, probe target binding on the surface of the polymer or a bulk chemical reaction between the analyte and the sensing material. Since micro-cantilever strains of just a few Angstroms are measurable, sample size can be very small and detection sensitivities of just a few molecules can be achieved. The use of piezo-resistive micro-cantilevers in conjunction with analyte-specific sensing polymers in this manner is a new and basic invention that is covered by Cantimer’s intellectual property rights.

The simplicity of Cantimer’s approach enables the development of small, portable, rapid-response detection and measurement devices that have virtually no moving parts and are robust, cost effective and easy to use.

Contact Hanna Adeyema (hadeyema@yet2.com)

ZetrOz LLC: Battery-powered, wearable ultrasound for physical therapy

ZetrOZ LLC has designed and developed the world’s smallest ultrasound systems for physical therapy. Unlike competitive devices on the market today, our system is battery powered and wearable. These devices represent a low cost and convenient method to reduce pain and increase rate of healing as either a stand alone treatment or as an adjunct to enhance the impact of common pharmacotherapies.

The ZetrOZ novel therapeutic ultrasound system has an average end-to-end loss of only ten percent (10%). This high efficiency level allows our therapy systems to operate at sustained higher levels of energy output for longer periods of time with a system only a fraction of the size of others on the market. The costs for even the earliest custom prototypes were considerably less than commercial equivalents.

While the ZetrOZ initial focus is on healthcare therapeutics, the technology is not limited to medical applications; rather, the concept is flexible enough to be applied to nearly any ultrasound application desiring smaller size and cost. The ability of this system to be applied to a wide range of industrial, cosmetic, and food processing ultrasound applications creates multiple licensing and co-development opportunities.

Contact Phil Stern (pstern@yet2.com)

Electronics — The new enablers

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MoBeam: Barcode transmitter for mobile devices to interact with existing POS systems

At the core of the MoBeam® technology is a very simple idea: Have a light source on a mobile device (for example, a message notification indicator) mimic the black-and-white line sequence of a barcode. Instead of registering the reflection from a printed barcode — the laser actually receives beams of light originating from the mobile device ‐ but with the same, or better result.

Because of this, MoBeam replaces antiquated paper and plastic-based redemption methods for applications in loyalty cards, coupons, gift cards and event tickets.

Unlike other emerging technologies, MoBeam does not require a physical hardware change to either the handset OR the retailer’s current point-of-sale system — no new chipsets, no new standards, no new POS hardware in order to deliver value immediate value. Current software offerings that suggest consumers have their mobile device screens read by the POS scanner fail more than 90% of the time.

Contact Phil Stern (pstern@yet2.com).

HCI: CoreCoolant™ heatsink

HCI’s self-contained dielectric liquid-submersion cooling-system is suitable for telecomm switches, medical imaging, avionics, office equipment, power supplies, battery chargers, LEDs, etc. It’s a green technology that applies to both portable and stationary formats and single and racked-devices. The system is already commercial in two applications.

HCI’s CoreCoolant™ has 1,350 times more heat-removal capability than air cooling (replacing Advanced Technology Extended (ATX) or Balanced Technology Extended (BTX) air-cooled cases) (75% net energysavings to move heat), and won’t short-out other devices like water-block cooling. Elimination of fans and simpler chassis lowers product footprint 35% and manufacturing costs to amounts competitive with air-cooled devices. Plug & play fittings and non-toxic coolant make replacing components quick and easy.

HCI’s liquid submersion is different than the liquid cooling used for decades in supercomputers — the heat-generating component is in direct contact with the coolant. Thus, the entire exposed surfaces of all the components become pathways away from the heat source. Also, HCI liquid submersion is cost-competitive — the direct transfer of heat from components allows less copper to be used in the device. Savings also come from smaller power supplies, elimination of fans and air-circulation space, and simpler chassis designs.

Contact Tim Bernstein (tbernstein@yet2.com).

Parker-Hannafin: Advanced piezo actuator operates at solenoid stroke and force

The Advanced Technology Actuator is able to increase piezo stack stroke and reduce force to typical solenoid actuator level, while maintaining a compact form factor. Applications that were once impossible using traditional piezos are now easily achievable and existing applications are widely improved. Two key performance advantages are as follows. First, the actuator is created using a proprietary process that speeds assembly, increases reliability, and allows greater stresses to be applied to the ceramic material. Secondly, this unique design and materials creates piezo actuators that are highly pre-compressed, which increases the amount of deflection created when a voltage is applied.

Contact Tim Bernstein (tbernstein@yet2.com).

Evgentech: Self-regulating, fast battery charging

Evgentech’s utility patentable power storage and transfer technology greatly magnifies the charging speed and cycle life of consumer, automotive and industrial battery systems, as well as enabling improved power transmission to enhance “Smart Grid” and other electrical grid infrastructures. Evgentech fast-charging technology will improve the performance of many consumer products by allowing True Fast Charging. We have made it possible to input the precise amount of power into the battery at the exact moment needed. This results in no excess heat generation and markedly shorter charging times, even while greater currents can be applied than previously considered acceptable.

Contact Phil Stern (pstern@yet2.com).