Cold Regions Engineer Receives Co-Patent for Fluid Dynamic Measurement Method

6 Nov 2006 -- HANOVER, N.H. -- An engineer with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) was recently awarded a U.S. co-patent for a method to measure fluid dynamics for underwater communications systems.

CRREL research electronic engineer Dr. Norbert E. Yankielun and James H. Clark, a mechanical engineer with the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center and now retired, received U.S. Patent #7,130,780 B2, Method and Instrument for Electronically Recording and Imaging Fluid Washover via Measuring Characteristics of the Fluid at Multiple Locations Simultaneously .

"The purpose of this instrument is to generate 3-dimensional, real-time data of the flow of seawater over a stealthy submarine antenna," Yankielun said. "This fluid dynamic measurement method enables a visualization of a flow of such fluids as seawater over a communications antenna system to aid in the effectiveness in the hydrodynamic design of the antenna systems – seawater hinders effective radio reception and transmission. The resulting improved hydrodynamics better enhances the communication capabilities of the undersea warrior."

Yankielun has been associated with CRREL for more than 18 years. He is the sole inventor or co-inventor of 25 patents with numerous others in process. Yankielun's patents involve the application of electronics and electromagnetics to solve geophysical and environmental instrumentation, monitoring and measurement problems, especially related to military and civil cold regions challenges.

Yankielun is a graduate of Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering and resident of Lebanon, N.H. Clark is a resident of Lyme, N.H.