News Release
Media Contact: Mike Bradley
Communications and External Relations
865.576.9553


Three ORNL scientists recognized for patent milestone

 
 Audio Clip  
 
(From left) Stephen Smith, John Hsu and Arthur Moorhead


OAK RIDGE, Tenn., June 23, 2006 — Three Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have been honored as Battelle Distinguished Inventors for obtaining 14 or more patents during their careers at the laboratory.

The honorees are:

- John Hsu with 15 patents that deal primarily with electric motors and their associated components and drive packages, energy conversion machines and thermal management of vehicle systems and components. Hsu works in the Engineering Science & Technology Division of ORNL's Energy and Engineering Sciences Directorate.

- Stephen Smith with 14 patents related to pulse transmission and receiving, monitoring of fluid pressures and flow abnormalities in gasses, monitoring machine performance and performing spectral analysis on alternating currents in motors. Smith works in the Engineering Science & Technology Division of ORNL's Energy and Engineering Sciences Directorate.

- Arthur "Artie" Moorhead with 14 patents relating to processes for fabricating, joining and strengthening ceramics and other materials. These include development of filler metals for brazing of ceramics, processes and methods for fabricating ceramics and articles from particle-based materials and methods for joining carbon-carbon composites to metals. Moorhead recently retired from ORNL.

The honorees join an elite group of inventors recognized by Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle from the scientific ranks of its own labs and the federal labs it helps to manage. Battelle has bestowed the honor on 42 inventors, 18 of them from ORNL.

Battelle participates in management of five national laboratories. Battelle oversees a staff of 19,000 employees and conducts $3.4 billion in annual research and development, which results in 50 to 100 patented inventions each year.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy.