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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
POWDERMET INC. Euclid
MComP micro/nanocomposite metals
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ith its latest innovation, Euclid-based Powdermet Inc. has its eye fixed on, among other things, the EPA and National Transportation Safety Board’s joint effort to drastically increase fuel efficiency in cars by 2025. In technical terms, the company says its MComP metals “offer high-strength-to-weight materials
SPECTRE SENSORS INC. Elyria Commercial silicon carbide MEMS pressure sensor
S
pectre Sensors Inc. is commercializing a pressure sensor that aims to offer no less than better long-term performance, higher temperature tolerance and better chemical resistance in harsh environments than existing sensors. No pressure there. The Elyria company is using
MARCH 5 - 11, 2012
for lightweighting a wide variety of applications where weight reduction is critical and volumetric properties cannot be sacrificed.� In other words, the company’s aluminum and magnesium alloys maintain the strength of steel but offer up to a 70% weight savings. Swap those alloys into automotive and aerospace applications, and you get significant reductions in energy costs. The company is working with
Case Western Reserve University, the National Science Foundation and the Army on early production methods and demonstrations, including for use in automotive connecting rod, wheel and braking applications. Those uses, Powdermet says, will help auto manufacturers meet new corporate average fuel economy standards of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The automotive market is Powdermet’s main target, but it lists other potential markets as military
armored vehicles, sporting equipment and computer housings. Replacing the steel chassis and flywheel — a part that helps transfer power from a car’s engine to its transmission — with MComP metals would reduce the weight of a midsize vehicle 22%, according to Powdermet. The company says overall transition to MComP metals can help reduce global fuel consumption by 1.25 trillion gallons per year, while potentially reducing carbon emissions by 24.5 billion pounds in a vehicle.
silicon carbide MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technology to develop the sensor, which will be compatible with housing and fitting used in Spectre’s current product lines of industrial and aerospace pressure transducers. Its partners in the MEMS sensor are the NASA Glenn Research Center and the Richard Desich SMART Commercialization Center for Microsystems at Lorain County Community College. Spectre has applied to license the silicon carbide (SiC) sensor
technology from NASA Glenn. The company says silicon carbide’s inherent hardness — close to that of a diamond — and strength “give it unparalleled long-term performance and ability to perform in high-temperature settings.� High thermal conductivity and low thermal expansion “give this material exceptional thermal shock-resistance qualities,� the nomination said. Indeed, the company notes in its nomination that in tests at NASA Glenn, the SiC pressure sensors maintained
their strength at very high temperatures. As Spectre executives see it, those qualities mean their sensor technology “can dramatically improve and expand the pressure measurement market and become the preferred choice in virtually any petrochemical, chemical, food, pharmaceutical, military, space or nuclear applications.� Spectre says it plans to introduce the technology to its existing customers “and selectively expand into new markets with strategic partners.�
the coating particles and the base metal. Since the coating includes zinc and other cathodic materials, the metal is protected even if the coating is pierced. If that happens, the zinc and other sacrificial materials in the coating give up their electrons to protect the base metal — the
same way anodes are used to protect bridges and other structures. The U.S. Government Accounting Office estimates that corrosion costs the U.S. $400 billion a year, and the U.S. market for corrosioncontrol coatings is about $50 billion a year. So there’s money to be made — and the industry has not seen any groundbreaking new technologies in more than 50 years, says Tesla. The Army already has been testing the coating for six years — and is recommending that it be used to replace the coatings now in use by the military on steel structures.
TESLA NANOCOATINGS LTD. Massillon
Teslan Carbon Nanocoating
R
ust never sleeps, but Tesla NanoCoatings hopes to at least give it a rest. The company, working with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, has come up with a new coating that goes on metal like paint, but protects the metal like paint and galvanizing combined — if not better.
Using nanotechnology, Tesla has figured out how to engineer a coating filled with microscopic carbon nanotubes. The tubes act like little ropes to bind and strengthen the coating itself, but they also serve as little strands of wire able to conduct electricity within the coating and between
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Dan Hill Lie to Me! – Emotional Management of Your Marketing Will Invite Trust, Not Contempt Julie Savarino Mastering the Sales Process for Litigators and Transactional Lawyers
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Hiroyuki Fujita, of Quality Electrodynamics, speaks at last year’s NorTech Innovation Awards.
THERMALIN DIABETES Cleveland Portfolio of insulin analogues
T
hermalin Diabetes is out to change the way that the world’s diabetics manage their conditions. The Cleveland company aims to commercialize four new types of insulin. The first product expected to hit the market could solve several problems with existing insulin formulas. For one, it is designed to be absorbed by the body almost immediately. Existing insulin formulas typically take about 15 minutes to start working. Thermalin’s product also would help keep patients’ blood sugar levels from dropping too low after meals, which can drive patients to eat more and gain weight. And unlike other insulin formulas, Thermalin’s first product doesn’t need to be refrigerated, which would allow the company to distribute it by mail or sell it in Third World countries. It also could be a better form of insulin for patients with insulin pumps: Not only could the fastacting formula help patients with glucose monitoring systems regulate their blood sugar levels in real time, but it also is six times more concentrated than traditional insulin. Thus, it would allow manufacturers to build smaller pumps, which would be particularly important if implantable pumps take off. The new formulas were developed by Dr. Michael Weiss, who is both chair of the biochemistry department at Case Western Reserve University Medical School and Thermalin’s chief scientific officer. The company is targeting a large market: About 366 million people in the world have diabetes, and that number is projected to grow rapidly over the next few decades. Several large pharmaceutical companies are shopping for better insulins, partly because in a few years some existing formulas no longer will have patent protection. Thermalin has had early stage conversations with pharmaceutical companies with which the startup hopes one day it could form partnerships. Thermalin aims to begin testing its first product in clinical trials in early 2013.
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2011 WINNERS Last year’s nine honorees: ■VasoStar Inc.: Vibrational guide-wire system for crossing chronic lesions ■Kent Displays Inc.: Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablet ■Echogen Power Systems Inc.: Advanced energy recycling using a CO2-based power cycle ■Ashlawn Energy LLC: Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries for energy storage solutions ■RTI International Metals Inc.: Continuous casting method for making
titanium ingots â– The University of Akron: Ultrasonic rubber devulcanization extruder and technology â– AeroClay Inc.: AeroClay, a clay-based aerogel, a lightweight porous material that can have a variety of mechanical properties â– MAR Systems Inc.: Sorbster, which extracts heavy metals from water â– AllTech Medical Systems America Inc.: High-performance, low-cost total MRI system