By: Leslie Wright
Idaho National Laboratory researchers are racking up accolades for the new technology they develop. This summer, two more honors were added to the list.
First, INL received honors at the Idaho Genius Awards, ranking in the top five Idaho companies by number of patents issued. Battelle Energy Alliance, which operates INL on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, ranked fourth in the state for over two dozen issued patents. Joining BEA in the top five were Micron, Hewlett-Packard Development, Semiconductor Components and the Intel Corporation.
Since BEA's contract to manage INL began, applications have been filed for over 472 patents, with more than 450 issued. In the 2016 fiscal year alone, 30 patents were issued to both INL and DOE based on the inventions of INL employees. Products, processes and innovations protected by INL patents and copyrights generate tens of millions of dollars annually in revenue for U.S. businesses.
One such new technology is the General Line Ampacity State Solver (GLASS), which was selected as a 2017 R&D 100 Award finalist. The R&D 100 Awards recognize the top 100 inventions each year, as judged by a panel of independent experts. The annual conference also celebrates innovation and revolutionary ideas in science and technology.
GLASS is a software package designed to help power line operators manage transmission for maximum efficiency and savings by calculating weather effects on lines. The java-based software incorporates wind and other weather data from remote sensors and then calculates the cooling effect of this phenomena on individual sections of line. This information, based on real-time data, enables dynamic control going beyond typical Static Line Ratings, which use a fixed set of environmental conditions. GLASS allows system planners and grid operators to better direct current over lines without the risk of overheating and enables utility companies to adjust power production and manage fluctuations in load more effectively.
INL nominates technologies to the R&D 100 Award competition nearly every year, and the lab has collectively won 18 awards since 2005.
This year's R&D 100 winners will be announced at an awards dinner in November. Congratulations to the GLASS team and power systems engineer Jake Gentle, who led development of the software package funded by DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office.
These honors also follow on the heels of three INL wins of Far West Regional Awards granted by the Federal Laboratory Consortium.
