{"73333":{"#nid":"73333","#data":{"type":"news","title":"VentureLab Firm to Market Surge Protection Device","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInnovolt Inc., a company assisted by Georgia Tech\u0027s VentureLab program, has received a technology license from Georgia Tech and is poised to begin testing and marketing a new approach to protecting electronic devices from electricity surges.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Innovolt device, called a current-inrush voltage surge suppressor, is designed to protect electronic equipment from both current and voltage surges. Traditionally, surge protectors have addressed only voltage surges, said Deepak Divan, a Georgia Tech professor who invented Innovolt\u0027s core technology and serves as chairman and chief technology officer for Innovolt.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I had worked in the power protection area for many years, and I was puzzled that equipment was still being damaged in the field despite the application of transient voltage surge suppression or TVSS devices,\u0022 Divan explained.  \u0022I started digging and found that although lightning strikes are routinely blamed for damage, there is very little data that supports that.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFurther research, he says, revealed that the culprit was not voltage surges but current-inrush surges -- electrical current spikes that follow a power disturbance called a voltage sag.  Such sags typically show up as a momentary flickering of lights.  Then, as electrical flow recovers, current surges can damage every type of electronics equipment from consumer to industrial.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We have found that for every voltage surge that the equipment faces, there are probably 100 current surges,\u0022 Divan said. \u0022And it can be a huge jump.  On different kinds of typical equipment, we have measured current-inrush surges of 60 times the normal current rating.\u0022  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn electrical circuits, voltage is an energy-related measure, analogous to water pressure in a pipe. Current is a measure of the flow of charge in a circuit, analogous to the amount of water flowing through a pipe. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EInnovolt\u0027s answer is the current-inrush voltage surge suppressor (CVSS), based on Divan\u0027s patent-pending inventions in the field. Innovolt\u0027s protection devices combine current-inrush suppression with the traditional transient voltage surge suppression found in existing surge suppressors.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We see this as a next generation device, not as a completely different type of technology,\u0022 Divan said. \u0022The users will not have to wonder if they need voltage or current protection - they will have both.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe company has completed initial product development, and its dual-technology devices are ready for beta testing in the field, says Uday D. Karra, Innovolt\u0027s chief executive officer.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EInnovolt has secured an exclusive license to the underlying patents and technology from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, he says, and is seeking early adopter partners to participate in beta testing, as well as second-round funding.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFirst-round funding for product development has come from various sources.  VentureLab has received $50,000 from the Georgia Research Alliance to assist in commercializing the current-inrush technology under license to Innovolt.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EInnovolt executives envision a line of equipment protection devices that will help protect anything containing electronics, from televisions and computers to industrial equipment.  The company\u0027s business model calls for it to both manufacture and license its technology, depending on business opportunities.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth Divan and Karra are veterans of previous successful business ventures. Divan, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, started Soft Switching Technologies in 1995, developing  a line of power line-conditioning products for factories.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EKarra recently served as chief software architect and CEO of Lumenor, an Atlanta company that offered financial software and services to banking, energy and telecommunications industries. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Both of us are seasoned entrepreneurs,\u0022 Karra said. \u0022Yet VentureLab and Commercialization Services have been of tremendous help in getting this technology out of the lab and into the real world.  They\u0027ve been the facilitators, helping us to navigate through the system.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0027s Commercialization Services, a division of the Office of Economic Development and Technology Ventures, helps identify Georgia Tech innovations with potential commercial value.  When it finds a promising technology, Commercialization Services either helps negotiate technology-licensing agreements with existing companies, or its VentureLab unit assists fledgling companies through the critical feasibility and first-funding phases.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: Rick Robinson (404-385-2562); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:rick.robinson@edi.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Erick.robinson@edi.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Rick Robinson\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Innovolt poised to market new technology for protecting electronic equipment"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Innovolt Inc., a company assisted by Georgia Tech\u0027s VentureLab program, has received a technology license from Georgia Tech and is poised to begin testing and marketing a new approach to protecting electronic devices from electricity surges.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech licenses surge protection technology"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2006-01-25 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:34","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2006-01-25T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2006-01-25T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"73334":{"id":"73334","type":"image","title":"Deepak Divan holds device","body":null,"created":"1449178002","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:26:42","changed":"1475894676","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:36"},"73335":{"id":"73335","type":"image","title":"Close-up of surge protection","body":null,"created":"1449178002","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:26:42","changed":"1475894676","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:36"}},"media_ids":["73334","73335"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}