Oak Ridge National Laboratory wins 20 R&D 100 awards

Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced it set a new lab record by winning 20 R&D 100 Awards in the current global competition (ORNL led 17 winners and co-developed three more, with 29 ORNL finalist technologies).

• Main announcement & highlights: ORNL reports 20 R&D 100 Awards (17 led, 3 co-developed) across energy, materials, manufacturing, computing and emerging technologies; notable technology metrics include rotary transformer motor tested on a 200-kW BorgWarner motor (92–95% efficiency, up to 15% efficiency improvement, up to 25% higher power density, validated over 53,000 cycles ≈ 10 years), LMHE engine with 15% weight reduction and >10% fuel-efficiency improvement, heat pump water heater with 30% improvement in first-hour hot water delivery, and BIPHASICS CO2 capture claiming up to 46% less solvent regeneration energy and 30% lower CO2 capture cost vs MEA.
• Background, partners and technical details: The announcement lists commercial and research partners and commercialization steps (e.g., The Sexton Corporation commercializing the underwater X-ray system; collaboration with BorgWarner, GM, Cummins, Soteria Battery Innovation Group, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and academic partners). It documents technology specifics such as HyPoCap (surface area >4,000 m2/g; 610 F/g capacitance), E-GRIMS operating at ~800°C with >90% energy savings and completing graphitization in ~2 hours, Next-Gen Polyiso R-value 8.3 per inch (30% better), Future Foundries reducing production cycles by up to 68%, and simulation tools (DR-Weld, ExaDigiT, PRESTO, Simurgh) with stated performance claims and deployment partners. Funding sources and managing organization (UT-Battelle for DOE Office of Science) are also listed.