DOE Funded Research Projects Win 30 R&D 100 Awards for 2008

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman announced today that researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Laboratories and Y-12 National Security Complex have won 30 of the 100 awards given out this year by R&D Magazine for the most outstanding technology developments with promising commercial potential. The coveted awards are presented annually in recognition of exceptional new products, processes, materials or software developed throughout the world and introduced into the market the previous year.

“I'm very proud that Department of Energy scientists and engineers captured over a quarter of this year's R&D 100 awards,” Secretary Bodman said. “This is yet another example of how the Department, our National Laboratories, and our Security Complex are continuing to demonstrate world-class leadership in scientific and technological innovation, as we enhance our energy security, national security and economic competiveness.”

Since 1962, when R&D Magazine’s annual competition began, DOE has been the recipient of 800 R&D 100 awards in areas such as energy, national security and basic scientific applications. This year, scientists and engineers from 10 of the 17 DOE National Laboratories and its Y-12 National Security Complex received awards.

R&D 100 awards are selected by an independent panel of judges based on the technical significance, uniqueness and usefulness of projects and technologies from across industry, government and academia. The complete list of R&D 100 awards will appear in the September 2008 issue of R&D Magazine.

A list of DOE’s winning sites, technologies and corresponding press releases are listed below:

Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne, Ill.) – Two Awards

EnerDel/Argonne High-Power Lithium-Ion Battery for Hybrid Electric Vehicles – a highly reliable and extremely safe device that is lighter in weight, more compact, more powerful and longer lasting than the nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries that are found in today’s hybrid electric vehicles.
Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Mechanical Seals – specially-treated pumping-system seals that have their surfaces imparted with the properties of diamond to improve their reliability, useful life and integrity in preventing the escape of pumped fluids into the environment.

Argonne researchers win 2 R&D 100 Awards

Idaho National Laboratory (Idaho Falls, Idaho) – One Award

Antibody Profiling Identification (AbP ID) – a rapid, inexpensive method to identify forensic evidence based on unique individual auto-antibody patterns.

INL researchers win 2008 R&D 100 award

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.) – Four Awards

Berkeley Lab PhyloChip – a DNA microarray that quickly, comprehensively, and accurately identifies species within microbial samples from any environmental source, without any culturing required.
Biomimetic Search Engine – a search engine that mimics the human cognitive process to find hidden and contextually relevant information in literature, databases, music and other digital content.
FastBit Bitmap Index – the fastest indexing technology for accelerating searching operations of massive databases. FastBit is able to search up to 100 times faster than other technologies.
Nanostructured Polymer Electrolyte for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries – a polymer electrolyte that enables the development of rechargeable lithium metal batteries with energy density that is at least a factor of two larger than that of existing technology.

Berkeley Lab Wins Four Prestigious 2008 R&D 100 Awards for Technology Advances

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, Calif.) – Three Awards

SecureBox – a low-cost, reliable, reusable advanced cargo container security system to improve the security of cargo containers during shipping.
Autonomous Alignment Process for Laser Fusion Systems – a revolutionary “hands-off” system that directs and aligns multiple high-energy laser beams to enable controlled man-made fusion reactions.
Dynamic Transmission Electron Microscope – provides the highest resolution ever for digital imaging of ultrafast material processes on the billionth of a meter scale.

LLNL scientists and engineers capture three awards for top industrial innovations

Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, N.M.) – Two Awards

3-D Tracking Microscope – the only confocal microscope capable of following the motion of nanometer sized objects, such as quantum dots, organic fluorophores, single green fluorescent proteins, as they move through 3-dimensional space at rates faster than many intracellular transport processes.
Laser-Weave – grows high-strength inorganic fibers into useful shapes and complex patterns, braid or weave strong cables, cloth or composites with lasers, produce new high-value, cost-effective refractory ropes and textiles and prototype novel high-aspect ration microelectrical mechanical systems.

Los Alamos National Laboratory technologies capture prestigious R&D 100 awards

National Energy Technology Laboratory (Morgantown, W. Va. and Pittsburgh, Pa.) – Two Awards

Sorbents – capture mercury, arsenic and selenium at high temperatures at various stages in the integrated gasification combined cycle process.
Advanced Process Engineering Co-Simulator – a one-of-a-kind software tool that provides high-fidelity process and equipment co-simulation together with seamless data/model management throughout a power plant’s lifecycle.

NETL Innovations Capture Two R&D 100 Awards

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colo.) – Two Awards

Inverted Metamorphic Multi-Junction Solar Cell – an ultra-light and flexible cell that converts solar energy with record efficiency.
Hybrid CGIS (or Thin-Film Photovoltaic Manufacturing Process) – hybrid CIGS cells that are manufactured in layers by using ink-jet and ultrasonic technology to precisely apply metal-organic inks in separate layers directly into common building materials such as metal and glass.

Photovoltaics Innovations Win 2 R&D 100 Awards

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) – Six Awards

Adaptive Band Excitation Controller and Software – performs rapid probing of energy dissipation for scanning probe microscopy techniques.
Cratos V Nano-Wool – a new process for producing high-purity carbon nanotubes quickly and at a fraction of the typical cost.
Laser-induced Fluorescence Composite Heat Damage Detector – provides rapid and accurate heat damage assessments of fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites found in military and commercial aircraft.
NanoSH Superhydrophobic Technology – makes surfaces completely water repellant by forming a microscopic air gap between the treated surface and water.
SpaciMS: Spatially Resolved Capillary Inlet Mass Spectrometer – takes samples inside the confined spaces of reactors like automotive catalysts, fuel reformers or fuel cells, measuring changes in chemical composition in both space and time within the reactors.
2-MGEM: Optical Anisotropy Factor Measurement System – used to characterize light polarization properties of a sample more accurately and reliably than previous techniques.

ORNL researchers win six R&D 100 awards

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, Wash.) – Four Awards

Grid FriendlyTM Appliance Controller – a small circuit board built into household appliances that reduces stress on the power grid by continually monitoring fluctuations in available power.
Multi-Scale Materials Integrated Processing Method – the only integrated, single-step process materials fabrication method that generates nano- to macro- sized materials with identical chemistry characteristics for use in materials science research and development applications.
D3: Degradable by Design Deicer – a family of non-toxic biodegradable fluids used to remove and prevent the formation of snow and ice on aircraft, airport runways, roads and pavement.
Velycys-FT: Fischer Tropsch Fuels Using Velocys Microchannel Technology – an advanced reactor technology that greatly reduces the size and cost of second-generation biofuel facilities.

PNNL scientists receive four R&D 100 awards

Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, N.M.) – Three Awards

Xyce (Trademark) Parallel Electronic Simulator 4.0.2 – the first analog tool capable of full simulation of large digital circuit systems through the use of massively parallel computation, rather than resorting to accuracy-compromising simplifications used by other tools.
Silicon Micromachined Dimensional Calibration Artifact for Mesoscale Measurement Machines – improves measurement accuracy for producing miniaturized devices such as fuel injectors, watch components, and inkjet printer parts as these high-volume parts are being manufactured.
Superhydrophobic Coating – a transparent coating that isn’t just impermeable to water, but actually makes it bounce off a surface to help prevent corrosion, protect electronic and antiquities, or provide a new, more efficient surface to collect pure water.

Sandia wins three R&D 100 awards

Y-12 National Security Complex (Oak Ridge, Tenn.) – One Award

Negligible-Residue Tack Cloth or Non-tacky Tack Cloth – traps dust, dirt or other particles in the cloth as it is wiped over the surface of the material being cleaned.

Y-12 researchers garner R&D 100 awards

The U.S. Department of Energy’s 17 world-class National Laboratories are working to uncover future scientific breakthroughs to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time, including energy and environment, national security and American competitiveness. For more information about DOE-supported technologies and the R&D 100 awards, visit: R&D 100 Awards.

Media contact(s):
Bethany Shively, (202) 586-4940