For release:
Contacts:
Karl Gschneidner, Jr., Metal and Ceramic Sciences, (515) 294-7931
Kerry
Gibson, Public Affairs, (515) 294-140
AMES, Iowa
–Astronautics Corporation of America, a Milwaukee-based firm that specializes
in manufacturing electronic aviation navigation systems for commercial and
military aircraft, has been honored for its efforts in promoting technology
transfer with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory. Astronautics
received the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s 2002 Mid-Continent Regional
Partnership Award for its work in developing the first room-temperature,
permanent-magnet, rotary magnetic refrigerator in collaboration with Ames Lab.
The award was presented at the FLC annual regional meeting September 19 in
Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Astronautics has been engaged-in magnetic refrigeration research and development since 1985. It has worked with both the DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and since 1990 with the Ames Laboratory. During this 12-year partnership, Ames Lab researchers Karl Gschneidner and Vitalij Pecharsky have developed several generations of increasingly powerful magneto-caloric materials.
This sustained technology transfer support has led to: significant
R&D project funding for Ames Lab, development of a succession of magnetic
refrigeration patents by both Astronautics and Ames Lab, successful technology
demonstrations, and several intellectual property agreements. Astronautics’
participation has been critical to the development, demonstration, and
commercialization of the technology.
The FLC, formally chartered by Congress in 1986 to promote and
strengthen technology transfer activities, is a nationwide network of federal
laboratories that strives to link laboratory-developed technologies and
expertise with the private sector. More than 700 major federal laboratories and
centers and their parent departments and agency make up the consortium.
The magnetic refrigeration research is funded by Office of Basic
Energy Sciences’ Laboratory Technology Research Program, Office of
Computational Technology Research. Ames Laboratory is operated for the DOE by Iowa State University. The
Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy
resources, high-speed computer design, environmental cleanup and restoration,
and the synthesis and study of new materials.
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Last revision: 10/20/02 kbg