1999 - INEEL Researchers Win Five R&D 100 Awards Five groups of researchers from Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are winners of prestigious R&D 100 Awards. Sponsored by R&D Magazine, the awards recognize the 100 most technologically significant products developed over the past year by the world's most creative scientists and engineers. These INEEL-developed products join the ranks of such lifestyle-enhancing inventions as the halogen lamp and fax machine. The five winning INEEL technologies are the "Cryogenic ZAWCAD," the "Tractrix Valve," the "High Void-Fraction Multiphase Flowmeter," the "Maverick Tank Inspection Robot," and the "Supercritical Fluid Slashing System."

Cryogenic ZAWCAD® uses a high-velocity stream of liquid nitrogen gas to cut and clean surfaces. Originally developed at INEEL and further developed by INEEL-spinoff company ZawTech International by Dennis Bingham, Russell Ferguson, Gary Palmer, Douglas Stacey, Richard Swainston, Carl A. Dunn, and Gerald Decker.

Based on 17th century geometry, the plug-type Tractrix Valve with a trumpet-within-a-trumpet shape wears in, not out. Retired INEEL engineer John Wordin holds the patent and Pio Park has overseen additional development by licensee Piquniq Management Corporation.

The INEEL High Void-Fraction Multiphase Flowmeter is a 3-foot long natural gas meter that measures the percentages of liquid and gas phases in natural gas flowing from a well with increased accuracy over conventional meters. Developed by INEEL engineer James Fincke, it has been licensed to a group at Perry Equipment Corporation (Darrell Kruse, Daniel J. Householder, Bulent Turan, Doyle J. Gould, Charles Ronnenkamp) for additional development and marketing.

The submersible Maverick Tank Inspection Robot travels through oil and gasoline to inspect storage tanks without having to empty them first. Originally developed at INEEL with further development by INEEL-spinoff company Solex Robotics, ID, by Thor Zollinger, Kerry Klingler, Charles B Isom (Solex Robotics, ID), Scott Bauer (INEEL), and Kerry Trahan and Don Hartsell (Solex Robotics, Texas).

Replacing centuries-old technology, the Supercritical Fluid Slashing System uses low-temperature, pressurized gas that behaves like a liquid to smooth and strengthen threads for weaving. Developed by INEEL researchers Mark Argyle and Alan Propp.

R&D 100 Award winners Kevin McHugh, Gary Seifert, and Karen B. Barrett. 1998 - INEEL Researchers Win Three R&D 100 Awards Three groups of researchers from Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company are winners of the prestigious R&D 100 Award sponsored by R&D Magazine. Each year R&D Magazine recognizes the 100 technologically significant products developed over the past year by the world's most creative scientists and engineers. The winning Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory entries are "Electro-Optic High Voltage Sensor," "RSP Tooling," and "Malt-based Antimicrobial." The Electro-Optic High Voltage Sensor, developed by Thomas Crawford, Gary Seifert, and James Davidson, is a safe, small, non-electric, optical sensor that uses photons instead of electrons to measure high voltages on power lines. The Rapid Solidification Process (RSP) Tooling technology is a fast, low-cost alternative to conventional fabrication of precision tooling used in the manufacture of nearly all mass produced products, from cell phones to automobiles. The Malt-based Antimicrobial is a naturally occurring biopesticide derived from malted cereal grains.

1997 - INEEL Research Honored with Two Prestigious R&D 100 Awards R&D Magazine sponsors an annual, international competition which honor significant products, materials, processes, software or systems with commercial promise. Researchers Joel M. Hubbell and J. B. Sisson, won the award for their "Advanced Tensiometer for Shallow or Deep Soil Water Potential Measurements". This new tensiometer design has significantly advanced the state-of-the-art in the technology of soil water movement measurement. Researchers Daniel J. Branagan, Timothy A. Hyde, and Charles H. Sellers, in collaboration with Ames researchers K. W. Dennis, M. J. Kramer, and R. W. McCallum, won the award for their "Nanocrystalline Composite Coercive Powder." This research demonstrates that gas atomization processing can be used to create a new generation of alloy which exhibits better corrosion resistance and a significant increase in hard magnetic properties. The R&D 100 competition is regarded by industry and the Department of Energy as a measure of excellence.

Tim Studt, Editor for R&D Magazine, shown with R. C. Greenwood, Rahmat Aryaeinejad, and Jerald D. Cole. 1995 - INEEL Research Honored with Prestigious R&D 100 Award R&D Magazine sponsors an annual, international competition which honor significant products, materials, processes, software or systems with commercial promise. Researchers Rahmat Aryaeinejad, Jerald D. Cole, and R. C. Greenwood won the award in 1995 for their "Gamma Neutron Assay System (GNAT)." The GNAT system is a new, nonintrusive, and unique patented technique of identifying fissile materials and their isotopic ratios in bulk quantities and in a field environment. It was developed to solve assay and tracking problems related to special nuclear materials (SNM) with direct impact on arms control, nonproliferation, and nuclear weapons dismantlement activities. Drs. Aryaeinejad and Cole are Advisory Engineer/Scientists for the INEEL Nuclear Engineering group. Dr. Greenwood, now retired, was a Scientist Fellow also for the Nuclear Engineering group.

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