| Penn State Research Foundation Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20110183079 | PLASMA ENHANCED ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION PROCESS - Improved systems, methods and compositions for plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition are herein disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method includes exposing a substrate to a first process material to form a film comprising at least a portion of the first process material at a surface of the substrate. The substrate is exposed to a second process material and the second process material is activated into plasma to initiate a reaction between at least a portion of the first process material and at least a portion of the second process material at the surface of the substrate. | 07-28-2011 |
| 20110042318 | SYSTEMS, METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR THE SEPARATION AND RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBONS FROM PARTICULATE MATTER - Systems, methods and compositions for the separation and recovery of hydrocarbons from particulate matter are herein disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method includes contacting particulate matter with at least one ionic liquid. The particulate matter contains at least one hydrocarbon and at least one solid particulate. When the particulate matter is contacted with the ionic liquid, the hydrocarbon dissociates from the solid particulate to form a multiphase system. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110008691 | DYNAMICALLY CONTROLLABLE DIRECT OXIDATION FUEL CELL SYSTEMS & METHODS THEREFOR - A direct oxidation fuel cell (DOFC) system comprises at least one fuel cell assembly including a cathode and an anode with an electrolyte positioned therebetween; a source of liquid fuel in fluid communication with an anode inlet; an oxidant supply in fluid communication with a cathode inlet; a liquid/gas (L/G) separator in fluid communication with anode and cathode outlets for: (1) receiving unreacted fuel and liquid and gaseous products of electrochemical reactions at the cathode and anode, and (2) supplying the unreacted fuel and liquid product to the inlet of said anode; and a control and/or regulation system for determining a fuel efficiency value of the DOFC system during operation and determining and regulating and/or controlling oxidant stoichiometry of the DOFC system at an appropriate value in response to the determined fuel efficiency value. | 01-13-2011 |
| 20100323361 | METHODS, SYSTEMS AND KITS FOR DETECTING PROTEIN-NUCLEIC ACID INTERACTIONS - Methods, systems and kits for detecting protein-nucleic acid interactions, in particular, detecting the genomic location to near-base pair resolution at which a particular protein (e.g., transcription factor) binds includes combining steps of a convention chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay with use of an exonuclease that digests DNA strands in the 5′-3′ or 3′-5′ direction until it reaches a bound protein including a protein crosslinked to DNA. A significant improvement of the resolution and dynamic range of the ChIP assay will increase one's ability to determine with confidence where a particular protein is binding in the genome. Importantly, proteins that inefficiently crosslink to DNA (either intrinsically or due to indirect crosslinking via another protein) and thus are very difficult to detect, are expected to be significantly detected by the kits and methods described herein. Inasmuch as most aspects of infectious diseases, inborn diseases, and cancers are rooted in the mis-expression of genes, having a better measure of the binding of proteins to genes or promoter regions will greatly enhance the ability of investigators to understand the driving molecular mechanisms behind these human maladies. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20090011289 | DIRECT OXIDATION FUEL CELL SYSTEMS WITH REGULATED FUEL CONCENTRATION AND OXIDANT FLOW - A direct oxidation fuel cell (DOFC) system, comprises at least one fuel cell assembly including a cathode and an anode with an electrolyte positioned therebetween; a source of liquid fuel in fluid communication with an inlet of the anode; an oxidant supply in fluid communication with an inlet of the cathode; a liquid/gas (L/G) separator in fluid communication with outlets of the anode and cathode for: (1) receiving unreacted fuel and liquid and gaseous products, and (2) supplying a solution of fuel and liquid product to the anode inlet; and a control system for measuring the amount of liquid product and controlling oxidant stoichiometry of the system operation in response to the measured amount of liquid product. Alternatively, the control system controls the concentration of the liquid fuel in the solution supplied to the anode inlet, based upon the system operating temperature or output power. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20080279754 | Induced electrical property changes in single walled carbon nanotubes by electromagnetic radiation - In the apparatus and process of the present invention, it is possible to fabricate CNTs with specific diameters and morphologies. The morphology selection can yield samples of pre-selected diameter configurations making it possible to take a sample of SWNTs produced by any synthesis technique and induce a morphology change that causes the sample to be either all conductive, all narrow band gap semiconductive or wide band gap semiconductive, within a given nanotube rope. | 11-13-2008 |
| 20080274390 | Anode electrodes for direct oxidation fuel cells and systems operating with concentrated liquid fuel - An anode electrode for use in a fuel cell comprises a stacked structure including, in sequence: a catalyst layer, a hydrophobic, microporous layer (“MPL”), a porous gas diffusion layer (“GDL”), and an anode plate with at least one recessed fuel supply-fuel/gas exhaust channel formed in a surface thereof facing the GDL, wherein the stacked structure further comprises at least one hydrophobic region aligned with the at least one recessed channel. The electrode is useful in direct oxidation fuel cells and systems, such as direct methanol fuel cells operating with highly concentrated liquid fuel. | 11-06-2008 |
| 20080257007 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING A BLANK AS A PORTION OF THE BLANK RECEIVES PULSES OF DIRECT CURRENT - A method is provided for forming a sheet metal blank or tubular blank in a metal forming tool, such as a sheet metal press or a media forming tool. The sheet metal press has an upper die and a lower die that are moved by a press to form the metal blank. The forming tool has a plurality of electrodes that are connected in an electrical circuit to a source of direct current. The electrodes provide pulses of the electric current to at least a portion of the blank. The method comprises loading the blank into the forming tool and closing the upper die and the lower die. The electrical circuit is completed between multiple electrodes through one or more portions of the blank. Electrical current is pulsed intermittently through the blank in a plurality of pulses. | 10-23-2008 |
