Patents by Inventor Steven K. Showalter

Steven K. Showalter has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7124507
    Abstract: Heat pipe wick structure wherein a stout sheet of perforated material overlays a high performance wick material such as stainless steel felt affixed to a substrate. The inventive structure provides a good flow path for working fluid while maintaining durability and structural stability independent of the structure (or lack of structure) associated with the wick material. In one described embodiment, a wick of randomly laid ˜8 micron thickness stainless steel fibers is sintered to a metal substrate and a perforated metal overlay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2006
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Charles E. Andraka, Douglas R. Adkins, James B. Moreno, K. Scott Rawlinson, Steven K. Showalter, Timothy A. Moss
  • Patent number: 6648063
    Abstract: Heat pipe wick structure wherein a stout sheet of perforated material overlays a high performance wick material such as stainless steel felt affixed to a substrate. The inventive structure provides a good flow path for working fluid while maintaining durability and structural stability independent of the structure (or lack of structure) associated with the wick material. In one described embodiment, a wick of randomly laid ˜8 micron thickness stainless steel fibers is sintered to a metal substrate and a perforated metal overlay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2003
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Charles E. Andraka, Douglas R. Adkins, James B. Moreno, K. Scott Rawlinson, Steven K. Showalter, Timothy A. Moss
  • Patent number: 5814370
    Abstract: A dried gel material sterically entrapping nanoclusters of a catalytically active material and a process to make the material via an inverse micelle/sol-gel synthesis. A surfactant is mixed with an apolar solvent to form an inverse micelle solution. A salt of a catalytically active material, such as gold chloride, is added along with a silica gel precursor to the solution to form a mixture. To the mixture are then added a reducing agent for the purpose of reducing the gold in the gold chloride to atomic gold to form the nanoclusters and a condensing agent to form the gel which sterically entraps the nanoclusters. The nanoclusters are normally in the average size range of from 5-10 nm in diameter with a monodisperse size distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Anthony Martino, Stacey A. Yamanaka, Jeffrey S. Kawola, Steven K. Showalter, Douglas A. Loy