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Engineers Receive 36th National Inventor of the Year Award

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 July 2009, 12:14 CDT

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Three accomplished engineers recently accepted the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation's 36th National Inventor of the Year Award. Inventors Keith Kowalsky, Daniel Marantz and David Cook, from Flame-Spray Industries, Inc. and James Baughman, a retiree from Ford Motor Company, were recognized for their development of the Plasma Transferred Wire Arc (PTWA) Thermal Spray Apparatus and Method. PTWA is a unique process that can deposit molten metal coating on internal surfaces of cylinders, such as pipes, pumps and engine bores common in the automotive industry.

This award is given to only one patent each year as recognition for an outstanding achievement in the fields of innovation, creativity and IP rights. The award recognizes individuals that epitomize American traditions of technological leadership, as well as increasing public awareness of current inventors and how they benefit the nation's economy and quality of life. By winning this prestigious award, the engineers join an elite group of inventors who have been recognized for breakthrough developments, such as the Jarvik Seven Artificial Heart and the stand-up MRI.

Flame-Spray developed PTWA as a result of the automotive industry's need to replace expensive cast-iron liners in aluminum engines, since they offset the engine's attractive, lighter weight. PTWA provides a system that coats the inside of the cylinder bores of the engine with a low-friction, wear-resistant thermal spray coating that adds minimal weight. Using PTWA rather than cast-iron liners, automotive manufacturers can safely and cost-effectively reduce the weight of a V-8 engine by approximately six pounds (2.7 kilograms). PTWA was included in the manufacturing of the 2008 Nissan GT-R, which was voted the 2009 Motor Trend and Automotive Magazine's Car of the Year. The PTWA method enabled the GT-R to gain increased boosting and performance while reducing emissions and fuel consumption.

"Our invention protects, enhances and provides the ability to use and develop materials that allow more environmentally friendly products to be manufactured while moving past many of the mechanical and material barriers," explains Keith Kowalsky, president of Flame-Spray.

Another green benefit of PTWA is that it can be used to remanufacture worn parts, which uses less energy than new manufacturing. Additional benefits include corrosion resistance, increased conductivity, wear reduction, repair of damaged surfaces, thermal insulation and biological functions such as bio-activity.

PTWA can be applied to many industries since it can deposit a coating on an internal surface as small as two inches or as large as 14 inches in diameter, or on any external surface. Any conductive wire can be used as the feedstock material, including refractory metals as well as low-melt materials. Thermal spray coatings are popular in the aerospace industry for increasing the durability and performance of aircraft turbine engines. Other industries that can benefit from PTWA include the petrochemical, infrastructure, alternative energy and military industries.

Currently, Flame-Spray technologies can be found in many industrial, heavy equipment manufacturers and remanufactured products. Flame-Spray's mission is to advance the applications of PTWA for the benefit of other industries. To learn more about Flame-Spray Industries' award-winning PTWA products, visit www.flame-spray.com.

About Flame-Spray Industries, Inc.:

Flame-Spray Industries, Inc. provides engineering solutions for surface protection through the use of advanced thermal spray technologies. Flame-Spray is focused on using and developing thermal spray processes to develop and apply thermal spray coatings for applications in the automotive, petrochemical, infrastructure, aerospace, alternative energy and military industries, as well as other industrial applications. Flame-Spray was founded in 1965 in Port Washington, New York and its products are sold worldwide.

SOURCE Flame-Spray Industries, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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