Volume 8, Number 3     May/June 2000

Kennedy Space Center Technology Cleaning Up

A NASA-patented supersonic cleaning system technology, originally developed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the Space Shuttle program, has been licensed to three companies: CryCle Cryogenic Development NV, Preferred Engineering and Va-Tran Systems. The technology transfer to CryCle marks a historic landmark for Kennedy. CryCle is a Dutch firm, and the successful technology transfer marks the first time in Kennedy history that a U.S. patent owned by NASA has been licensed to a foreign company. The company has had partnerships with several American companies for other technological development and market support.

CryCle, a small high-tech business established in 1997, plans to develop and market the Gas/Liquid Supersonic Cleaning System, which was originally developed as a cleanliness verification tool to replace environmentally harmful solvents. Under terms of the patent license agreement, the company must substantially manufacture the system in the United States and is restricted to European marketing and sales. NASA inventors, as well as Kennedy Space Center, benefit from the collection of royalties that are negotiated as part of all patent license terms, according to Melanie Chan, Technology Programs manager, Licensing and Dual Use.

Preferred Engineering, a wholly owned subsidiary of Preferred Utilities Manufacturing Corporation of Danbury, Connecticut, has also received a license for the technology. Preferred Engineering, established in 1981, designs and manufactures special tooling for the nuclear utility industry. The supersonic cleaning system fits into the company's existing markets and provides an entry into such diversified markets as medical device manufacturing and semiconductor manufacturing.

According to the Preferred Engineering's Director of Projects, Richard Simoneau, "The supersonic cleaning system not only can be adapted to cleaning tools for our present nuclear market, but also can easily be adapted to other high-tech markets, such as pharmaceutical, semiconductor, medical and chemical industries. This gives us the ability to provide the system to our existing customers and capitalize off the experience to develop new but related uses."

Va-Tran Systems of Chula Vista, California, holds the U.S. patent rights and is marketing its own version of the cleaning system. Va-Tran found in further studies of the system that it is also excellent for the removal of adhesive, flux, fingerprints and heavy hydrocarbon contamination.

NASA Kennedy Space Center inventors developed the technology for cleanliness verification of complex Space Shuttle mechanical and electronic parts. The system is suitable for a variety of applications, from cleaning electronic circuit boards to scouring building exteriors. Although traditional high-pressure spray cleaning systems are often employed for cleaning various types of mechanical, electrical and fluid components, they unfortunately use very large quantities of solvents. The disposal of these solvents creates an environmental problem, especially with the use of Freon 113 or other chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

NASA's invention overcomes the deficiencies of prior systems. The cleaning spray system incorporates one or more converging-diverging nozzles to accelerate a gas-liquid mixture to a supersonic velocity for the cleaning of or contamination removal from various articles or components, and it uses less than 100 milliliters of water per minute. The liquid (typically water) can be collected and sampled to verify cleanliness. It can also be easily adapted to accept virtually any gas-liquid mix and flow rate combination.

The supersonic cleaning system, originally developed for the Space Shuttle program, has been licensed to three companies for a variety of applications. (Photo supplied by Kennedy Space Center)

For more information, contact Tom Gould, NASA Technology Programs Commercialization Office, at Kennedy Space Center. 321/867-6238, Thomas.Gould-1@ksc.nasa.gov Please mention you read about in it Innovation.