TECHNOLOGY/Business Opportunity Mechanical Logic Gates

Opportunity:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract no. DE-AC52-07NA27344 (Contract 44) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is offering the opportunity to enter into a collaboration to further develop and commercialize its mechanical logic gates.

Background:

There is a need for passive sensors that can observe the environment for an extended period of time, then reliably respond to a specific state-change event.  While electronic sensors can accomplish these tasks, they tend to be large and require batteries, which eventually would run out of power.  To address this drawback, LLNL researchers have developed passive sensors that could monitor environmental conditions and register changes as they occur, without the need for electrical power.

Description:

LNL’s approach to designing logic gates uses heuristic as well as with the Freedom and Constraint Topologies (FACT) methods; these gates are then produced using existing additive manufacturing processes.  The 10,122,365 and 10,678,293 patents describe how to fabricate the gates; the 10,855,259 patent describes how the signals are propagated; and the 11,604,489 patent describes how the gates can carry out the logical AND operator.

Advantages/Benefits: 

• Logic circuits with little or no electrical power source
• Negligible EM signature

Potential Applications: 

• Long-term monitoring sensors in environments destructive to electronics
• Passive tags that confirm that a tagged item is in fact the original item, or if the item has moved/tampered
• Non-emitting sensors and computer systems that are difficult to detect

Development Status: 

Current stage of technology development:  TRL 2

LLNL has patent(s) on this invention:

• U.S. Patent No. 10,122,365 System and Method for Flexure-Based Microstructural Logic Gates published 11/6/2018
• U.S. Patent No. 10,678,293 System for Mechanical Logic Based on Additively Manufacturable Micro-mechanical Logic Gates published 6/9/2020
• U.S. Patent No. 10,855,259 Systems and Methods for Micromechanical Displacement-Based Logic Circuits published 12/1/2020
• U.S. Patent No. 11,604,489 System and Method for Micromechanical Logical AND Gate published 3/14/2023

LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Moving critical technology beyond the Laboratory to the commercial world helps our licensees gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. All licensing activities are conducted under policies relating to the strict nondisclosure of company proprietary information. 

Please visit the IPO website at https://ipo.llnl.gov/resources for more information on working with LLNL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Note:  THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT.  Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's mechanical logic gates should provide an electronic OR written statement of interest, which includes the following:

1. Company Name and address.
2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact.
3. A description of corporate expertise and/or facilities relevant to commercializing this technology.

Please provide a complete electronic OR written statement to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's mechanical logic gates.

The subject heading in an email response should include the Notice ID and/or the title of LLNL’s Technology/Business Opportunity and directed to the Primary and Secondary Point of Contacts listed below.

Written responses should be directed to:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Innovation and Partnerships Office

P.O. Box 808, L-779

Livermore, CA  94551-0808

Attention:   IL-13156Plus