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KEN HUNTER, Sr. Mechanical Engineer + Optics Inventions and Achievements |
| 2005: NANOmetrics: My team produced a monolithic Deep UV Elipsometer. It measures 3.5 Angstrom objects on a 300mm silicon wafer. I also stabilized the airflow to improve repeatability. | |
| 2004: Circle Medical needed a magnetically driven, patient operated cartridge of medical gas to be used to fill a internal skin expander without medical intervention. Napkin sketches were developed into a marketable medical product. | |
| 2004: Emcore developed board systems to raise the speed of internet switches, outpacing copper by 850Mhz to 10Ghz. I developed the Mold designs for all of the parts on 3 product lines, included EMI proof casings, copper to VCSL plastic components and flexible lens systems to steer the light within the interconnect systems, qualified at 85/85 | |
| 2003: Megadyne Medical wanted more than one se from their electronic scalpel, then a disposable. I perfected a design in which 2 plastic racks would lock into each other and a base rack cast into the plug shell. When the plug is inserted into the generator, the racks advance automatically. Using shaped memory alloy, which lengthens itself to its original form during autoclave sterilization I engineered a rack to regain its original position. I also engineered the plug to deploy a rack return blockade pin after a chosen number of cycles. The single use device can now reliably be used 12 times, and the company’s share of the market has increased significantly. | |
| 2002: Nanomuscle wanted the world’s smallest low-pressure 5-way air valve, needed to operate segments of a catheterized heart repair system. I devised a tiny spool valve using the smallest readily available o-rings to keep costs low. I attached a bi-directional shaped memory alloy stack to the valve to provide motion. Using a tiny bit of current, the SMA throws the valve one way or the other. The production cost was under a dollar each. | |
| 2001: Pacific Consultants client needed a way ti measure the ID of heart valves. I devised a complex plastic lens driven with a He-Ne laser. Concept approved, I miniaturized and catheterized the system, then saw to all necessary production documentation. A catheterized cassette style valve delivery system was also produced. | |
| 2000: Markel Motor re-invented piston engine. The new architecture raised efficiency from 29% to 63%, with extremely low pollution, high horsepower, and less than 100 parts. I invented: frictionless valve actuation, integral supercharger and 2 sparkplug one valve cylinder heads. Solidworks and Cosmos/Flow analysis (FEA, gas flow and thermodynamics) was performed on the entire assembly and on all of the parts. A licensee was found within 9 months of introduction. | |
| 1998: Hyseq had developed a lab scale method for DNA mass analysis. They needed an automated machine to do the same thing. This machine had to deal with plutonium, super saturated salts and heat and chill cycles. I devised the heat and chill connections to be plug-enabled. I designed independent accessibility while the machine was running, and did a thorough FEA to insure that the shelves would be strong enough to be withdrawn a full 8 ft without spilling plutonium laden chemicals. I designed the entire system from the frame out: fast 3D fluid supply and injection including plutonium, strong rocker shelves with integrated heating and cooling, laser curtains (an NRC requirement), and all appropriate waste disposal systems. This machine has recently helped the Human Genome Project decode the entire DNA of “pink slime”, an ancient bacteria that lives in acid streams and creates energy from iron and sulphur. | |
| 1997: Molecular Dynamics needed an automated, laser driven bioassay machine using florescence as the indicator. I devised a vibrator feed system, as the parts were less than 1 gram each. I developed a 6-axis alignment stage to place each sample in exactly the same spot. I more than doubled the efficiency of the optical train. I developed a temperature control system since bio-florescence is temperature sensitive. I designed the cabinet for accessibility. The machine’s accuracy is widely accepted, and is in labs worldwide. | |
| 1995: ADAC Labs makes scintillator arrays for mapping cancers in 3D, but body attenuations would produce inaccurate results. I engineered a gamma ray projector using a Cesium 137 source and depleted Uranium shielding, and worked closely with Oak Ridge National Labs to produce the device. I had to invent a shutter assembly to produce the NRC required million to 1 extinction ratio. The improved mapping machines have been linked to linear accelerators, and beta test systems now in use can destroy cancerous tumors without surgery. | |
| 1994-5: Photon Dynamics had made a successful lab experiment. They needed an inspection machine. I developed the experiment into modular quad lens cameras, using FEA and heat flow analysis. I then designed 2 clean room ready inspection machines with robotic handling systems, each multiplexing up to 64 lenses. I designed motorized polarizers and fiber optic illuminators. 100 times faster than all competitors, with the same accuracy, these machines changed the inspection industry. | |
| 1992-4: VPL Research was the pioneer in virtual reality. I studied medical aspects of virtual reality. I developed and patented the first head mounted display system with lenses adjustable for inter-pupillary distance and facial asymmetry, with a wide field of view and high resolution. This has allowed Virtual Medicine and robot control in high hazard situations such as building the Space Station. | |
| 1991-2: Nellcor, a manufacturer of pulse oxymeters, needed testers that would meet FDA Medical Device requirements while being operated every 8 seconds in a machilladora. Their existing testers yielded many false results. I knew that natural Delrin mimics the light transmission characteristics of skin. I devised 7 types of pneumatically operated, computerized testers around it. I supervised installation and startup and trained the Mexican operators in their use. At Nellcor’s request they were quite rugged; no tester has had a failure in 12 years. False test results have fallen to 1 per 1,000,000 units. | |
| 1989-91 Tencor Instruments needed me to design a laser-based device from patent documents. It measures the oxide thickness in process atop Applied Materials wafer fab cluster tools. This device was originally used to control oxide layer thickness. It is now used to measure patterned layers as well. |