SENSOR ASSEMBLIES AND METHODS FOR EMULATING INTERACTION OF ENTITIES WITHIN WATER SYSTEMS (iEdison No. 0685901-18-0023)
This is a continuation of Patent 10,067,112 (Autonomous Sensor Fish to Support Advanced Hydropower Development). We developed a smaller version which can be used for other applications.
Assemblies, Riveted Assemblies, Methods for Affixing Substrates, and Methods for Mixing Materials to Form a Metallurgical Bond (iEdison No. 0685901-22-0263)
This invention is a process and tool for performing mechanical fastening of materials using magnesium rivets.
COMBINED CAPTURE AND CONVERSION OF CO2 TO METHANOL IN A POST COMBUSTION CAPTURE SOLVENT (iEdison No. 0685901-22-0069)
Herein, we have identified an efficient and selective catalyst for the condensed phase hydrogenation of captured CO2 in the presence of an advanced water-lean post combustion capture solvent, EEMPA. The catalysts commonly used for the gas phase CO2 hydrogenation caused deactivation of the capture solvent via N-methylation. We have developed and screened several heterogenous catalysts for suppressing N-methylation of the capture solvent and identified that metals, particularly noble metals, on reducible metal oxide supports such as CeO2 and TiO2 to be particularly selective for C-N cleavage to produce methanol. The most promising catalyst formulation (Pt/TiO2) was evaluated under continuous flow operation, which produced a single pass CO2 conversion of 29% with 70% selectivity to methanol at 170 degrees C. Further increase in the reaction temperature (to 190 degrees C) resulted in decrease in the methanol selectivity, however with an unprecedented single pass CO2 conversion of 86%. The high single pass conversion achieved here is important as the solvent looping strategy to get higher conversion is not economical. This is the first demonstration of integrated low temperature thermocatalytic capture and conversion of CO2 to methanol in an economically viable post-combustion CO2 capture solvent. The Technoeconomic analysis (TEA) performed on the current state of this integrated technology showed that the methanol production cost is ~$1000/mt using CO2 captured from flue gas from a 550 MW natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plant. This cost is lower than the current renewable methanol cost of ~1600/mt.
Method for Forming Hollow Profile Non-Circular Extrusions Using Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE) (iEdison No. 0685901-13-0018)
A process for forming extruded products using a device having a scroll face configured to apply a rotational shearing force and an axial extrusion force to the same preselected location on material wherein a combination of the rotational shearing force and the axial extrusion force upon the same location cause a portion of the material to plasticize, flow and recombine in desired configurations. This process provides for a significant number of advantages and industrial applications, including but not limited to extruding tubes used for vehicle components with 50 to 100 percent greater ductility and energy absorption over conventional extrusion technologies, while dramatically reducing manufacturing costs.
SHEAR ASSISTED EXTRUSION PROCESS
A shear assisted extrusion process for producing cladded materials wherein a cladding material and a material to be cladded are placed in sequence with the cladded material positioned to contact a rotating scroll face first and the material to be cladded second. The two materials are fed through a shear assisted extrusion device at a preselected feed rate and impacted by a rotating scroll face to generate a cladded extrusion product. This process allows for increased through wall strength and decreases the brittleness in formed structures as compared to the prior art.
Electrophilic acid gas-reactive fluid, proppant, and process for enhanced fracturing and recovery of energy producing materials
An electrophilic acid gas-reactive fracturing fluid, proppant, and process are detailed. The fluid expands in volume to provide rapid and controlled increases in pressure that enhances fracturing in subterranean bedrock for recovery of energy-producing materials. The proppant stabilizes fracture openings in the bedrock to enhance recovery of energy-producing materials.
DEVICES AND METHODS FOR PERFORMING SHEAR-ASSISTED EXTRUSION AND EXTRUSION PROCESSES (iEdison No. 0685901-13-0018)
A process for forming extruded products using a device having a scroll face configured to apply a rotational shearing force and an axial extrusion force to the same preselected location on material wherein a combination of the rotational shearing force and the axial extrusion force upon the same location cause a portion of the material to plasticize, flow and recombine in desired configurations. This process provides for a significant number of advantages and industrial applications, including but not limited to extruding tubes used for vehicle components with 50 to 100 percent greater ductility and energy absorption over conventional extrusion technologies, while dramatically reducing manufacturing costs.
DRUG DISCOVERY VIA REINFORCEMENT LEARNING WITH THREE-DIMENSIONAL MODELING (iEdison No. 0685901-21-0044)
In this contribution, we propose a novel framework, 3D-MolGNNRL, coupling reinforcement learning (RL) to a deep generative model based on 3D-Scaffold to generate target candidates specific to a protein pocket building up atom by atom from the core scaffold. 3D-MolGNNRL provides an efficient way to optimize key features within a protein pocket using a parallel graph neural network model. The agent learns to build molecules in 3D space while optimizing the binding affinity, potency, and synthetic accessibility of the candidates generated for the SARS-CoV-2 Main protease.
ALUMINUM SHEET PROCESSING, ALUMINUM COMPONENT PROCESSING, AND ALUMINUM COMPONENTS (iEdison No. 0685901-20-0036)
This invention teaches how to stamp high strength Al sheets at room-temperature and simultaneously achieve high strength without having to do a separate T6 temper heat-treatment. Although this work was done on 7000 series Al alloy, the approach is also applicable to other Al alloys that show room-temperature aging phenomenon. In this invention, the sheet material is first solutionized at a prescribed high temperature which is generally known from handbook. The sheet is then quenched to room-temperature which results in a temper called W-temper. In this temper the sheet can undergo natural aging, i.e. it strengthens with time while it is sitting at room-temperature. In this invention, we show that if we wait for as long as 6 days and then stamp the sheet, it is still formable enough to be shaped into a component and simultaneously it achieves a strength that is close to the maximum strength possible in this given Al alloy. In this work, we stamped a prototype side-impact beam based on a commercial automotive part and demonstrated that this invention can be used to make relevant components. The Al side impact beam that we made is ~40% lighter than a steel side impact beam on which our prototype is based.
System and process for formation of extrusion products
Devices and processes for performing shear-assisted extrusion include a rotatable extrusion die with a scroll face configured to draw plasticized material from an outer edge of a billet generally perpendicularly toward an extrusion orifice while the extrusion die assembly simultaneously applies a rotational shear and axial extrusion force to the billet.