"Knoxville Company Selected For International R&D Award"
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - October 10, 2002.
Atmospheric Glow Technologies Wins Same Honor Given to Digital Wristwatch, Antilock Brakes and Fax Machine.
An innovation developed by a Knoxville company is receiving recognition as one of the world's best new technologies.
Atmospheric Glow Technologies (AGT) has received a prestigious R&D 100 award from R&D Magazine for its design of a plasma air filter that works with existing HVAC units to eliminate virtually all biological and chemical contaminants in the air. The award has recognized many life-changing new products, including the digital wristwatch, the automatic teller machine, the halogen lamp and the fax machine.
AGT's Enhanced Plasma Sterilization T (EPST) Filtration System generates atmospheric plasma to eliminate at least 99.9 percent of all known bacteria, viruses, spores, and biological warfare agents from a building's heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system.
The EPS application is based on the company's One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma technology developed and patented while the research team was at The University of Tennessee. In addition to air filtration, the company has identified applications for the healthcare, transportation, and industrial markets, as well as for the military.
"The technology inside the EPS application is a 'platform technology,'" said Kimberly Kelly-Wintenberg, Ph.D., AGT's president and chief manager. "That is, the One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma technology offers a wide range of application possibilities, each of which presents unique and potentially profitable market opportunities for our company and for The University of Tennessee. The R&D 100 award elevates our company and technology to a much higher level of visibility, and will help in our commercialization efforts."
EPS uses One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma to generate a tremendous number of oxygen atoms in the air under normal atmospheric conditions. Within a few milliseconds, a tremendous number of oxygen atoms in the air rapidly attach to other atoms and in the process kill harmful agents and render the air purified coming from an HVAC system. The EPS application works in tandem with an HVAC system's normal air filtration process and requires only minor modifications to complete the retrofit.
Capitalizing on Academic Research
Dr. John Shumaker, President of The University of Tennessee, has remarked publicly about the benefits of looking to the private sector for new sources of revenue to build the University's future, especially when the technology is developed at UT.
"AGT is an example of how the University and the private sector can work together to bring commercially viable technologies out of the University for the benefit of the State. We've got to encourage our faculty and our students to commercialize research," he said. "In Tennessee, that's innovative. In the rest of the country it's the expectation."
Knox County Executive Mike Ragsdale, along with a representative from The University of Tennessee, will present AGT with a proclamation congratulating the company on its successful technology development.
About the R&D 100 Awards
Dubbed the "The Oscars of Innovation" by The Chicago Tribune, The R&D 100 awards are judged by 60 outside experts in various fields of technology. The program is in its 40th year of recognizing a number of life-changing products.