Volume 8, Number 4     July/August 2000

Small Business/SBIR

Ultracapacitor Helps Company Grow

Specializing in the design, development and commercialization of advanced, cutting-edge materials to the nanometer scale (10-9 m), T/J Technologies, Inc. may help redefine the world of portable electronics.

Founded on a shoestring budget in 1991 by the husband and wife team of Levi and Maria Thompson, the company now generates more than $2 million in revenues and has won a list of awards underscoring their achievements. The company has contracts with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the National Science Foundation.

T/J Technologies designs, develops and manufactures advanced materials and devices for electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Presently the company’s main focus is on rechargeable batteries, ultracapacitors and fuel cells. The materials and associated processes offer significant advantages in applications where power, size and cost are at a premium. Other programs use related materials in catalytic, structural and gas sensing applications.

A cross between batteries and regular capacitors, ultracapacitors answer the need for lightweight, more efficient power sources. Ultracapacitors can be used to extend battery life or enable the use of smaller and lighter battery systems. Electrodes developed by

T/J Technologies for use in ultracapacitors can be made from widely available, relatively inexpensive materials. This type of technology has been targeted for use where intermittent, high-power energy pulses are required, such as regenerative braking systems, traffic signaling and cellular communications. Other commercial applications include computer memory backup, cordless power tools, portable electronics, electric/hybrid vehicles, industrial lasers and automotive subsystems.

In a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) effort with NASA Marshall, T/J Technologies is developing high surface area transition metal nitrides and carbides for use in ultracapacitors. Because of their high conductivity and open microstructures, these electrodes can be used to produce ultracapacitors with lower resistances and higher power densities than devices based on commercially available carbon electrodes. According to the Marshall Phase III contract technical representative, David K. Hall of the Electrical Power Subsystems Team, "This is an enabling technology for pulse power applications such as electromechanical actuators and burst digital communications," that can result in lighter weight energy sources with better power quality and lifecycle performance.

SBIR is “Turning Goals Into Reality”

SBIR program managers led a workshop session in the Turning Goals Into Reality (TGIR) conference, sponsored by NASA’s Aerospace Technology Enterprise and held in May at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama.

During the workshop, SBIR program managers shared information with participants about ways to access NASA technology and mechanisms for partnering with NASA. SBIR and the program offices themselves must continue to explore innovative ways of developing and commercializing NASA technologies if the aggressive goals and objectives outlined by the enterprise are to be met. The SBIR program works with the NASA enterprises to target new opportunities in research areas where innovation in small businesses can potentially make a difference.

The SBIR program showcased in a poster some of the technologies developed over the past few years, through SBIR, for the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) consortium. AGATE, an industry-university-government cost-sharing partnership, was initiated by NASA in 1994 to create the technological basis for revitalizing the U.S. general aviation industry. Its goal was to develop affordable new technology as well as industry standards and certification methods for airframe, cockpit, flight training systems, and airspace infrastructure for next generation single pilot, 4-6 place, near all-weather light airplanes. The AGATE consortium has more than 70 members from industry, universities, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other government agencies.

The TGIR conference served to report across a spectrum of research areas on the recent accomplishments by the Aerospace Technology Enterprise and its industry partners. Through presentations and panel discussions on the state of aerospace transportation research, technology exhibits, and workshops on future program directions, including the topic of breakthrough technologies, the conference participants were able to interact with NASA managers in lively discussions on the future of aerospace. Conference speakers included NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin; Samuel Venneri, NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Office of Aerospace Technology; Vern Raburn, president and CEO of Eclipse Aviation, Inc.; and Thomas McKendree from the Foresight Institute.

Approximately 400 members of the aerospace community attended the conference. The third TGIR conference is scheduled for late spring 2001 and will be hosted by Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. To find out more about TGIR visit: http://www.aerospace.nasa.gov/curevent/2000/may.html

For more information, contact Jenny Kishiyama at NASA Headquarters 202/358-4649, jkishiyama@hq.nasa.gov Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

 

More than 400 aviation and aerospace industry pro-
fessionals gathered for the opening sessions of NASA’s
second “Turning Goals into Reality” conference, hosted
by Marshall Space Flight Center. (Photo provided by
Marshall Space Flight Center.)



For more information, contact Maria Thompson, T/J Technologies President, 734/213-1637
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

NASA Official: Jonathan Root

Web Designer: Shawn Flowers