Groton firm wins broad tech patent

[Metropolitanjury]

PEL Associates, based at the Marine Sciences Technical Center at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, has been awarded a broad U.S. patent for Smart Coating Systems technology, the company announced this week.

The coating systems involve layers of material that, after being heated up by an electrical or microwave current, can be peeled off like a piece of skin, said company president, owner and author of the patent Morton L. Wallach.

”I think it's a big breakthrough,” said Wallach, who worked on the concept for two years and spent another four years obtaining a patent. “The technology can be applied to many different areas.”

Wallach said the technology was targeted initially at the $2.5 billion military and commercial ship market. He was searching for a new way to defoul the exterior of ships - a process that includes the scraping of barnacles from hulls - when he came up with the delayering technology.

The new technology has a wide array of potential applications, the company said.

The technology of triggered coating releases can also modify electronic or photonic circuit components.

Wallach said the company is looking for venture capital and business partners and is exploring ways to set up separate business entities to take advantage of the new technology.

PEL Associates, which provides novel engineering systems and technology for industrial, marine, defense and homeland security uses, has a number of other patents pending. Among them are devices to detect swimmers (for port security) and to provide container security, wind-shear detection, underwater or roadside explosive detection and toxic marine-agent detection and countermeasures.

The seven-year-old company has anywhere from five to eight employees at any point in time, depending on the number of contracts on which it is working. Employees have expertise ranging from chemistry and physics to engineering and mathematics.

PEL's list of clients has included Electric Boat, Sikorsky Aircraft and United Technologies. More information on the company is available at PEL Associates - Inovative Technology.

By Ms.Bobby Aanand, Metropolitan Jury