(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2) Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501 Sponsored by Vangard Sciences PO BOX 1031 Mesquite, TX 75150 There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS on duplicating, publishing or distributing the files on KeelyNet except where noted! May 16, 1993 LT_PULSE.ASC -------------------------------------------------------------------- This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Ray Berry. -------------------------------------------------------------------- STAR WARS SCIENCE PROTECTS CHICKEN PIES By SARAH LUBMAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL LOS ANGELES April 14 1993 OK, so maybe it wouldn't work zapping missiles in space. How about soot and bread mold? That's the thinking behind the purple light flashing regularly from an experimental switching device in a California lab facility. Martin Gundersen, a physics professor at the University of Southern California, is trying to turn the "pulsed power" technology originally developed for Star Wars into a commercial antipollution weapon. There's no shortage of ideas on using pulsed power. Labs across the country are using it on chicken pot pies, mussels and tumors. But now that defense funding is dwindling, there is a shortage of money. Pulsed power, a way of storing and rapidly releasing electrical energy in powerful bursts, has been a vital military tool since World War II in most radar, certain laser weapons and electrical guns, and simulated nuclear blasts. In the 1980s heyday of the Strategic Defense Initiative, pulsed power was once envisioned as a potential space death-ray laser to destroy enemy missiles. That turned out to be problematic and costly; SDI has since moved on to weapons that destroy missiles by bashing into them. 'Fundamental Technology Issues' "One of the good things about SDI was that it got a lot of scientists looking into fundamental technology issues that are more significant than getting huge lasers into space," says Mr. Gundersen, who has a kindly manner and eyebrows that seem to have a life of their own. He joined USC in 1980 to do laser research funded mostly by the Pentagon. Now, the professor and a few of his graduate students tinker with an antipollution pulsed-power device called a plasma discharge cell. The experiment looks like a thick tangle of high-tech plumbing atop a metal platform roughly the size of ping-pong table. The cell, Page 1 powered by an electrical switch, releases thousands of simultaneous bursts of energy a second that are visible as flashes of neon-purple light. A high-speed photograph of the process looks like a starry sky, showing a cloud of tiny white dots of energy frozen against a black surface. Scientists have proved that the chemical reaction produced by the intense energy pulses can dissolve toxic solvents, as well as harmful sulfur oxides found in factory smoke. The principle is simple: Electrons generated by the sudden power burst run into molecules of noxious compounds, literally breaking them up. In theory, power plants could reduce pollution by installing pulsed- power devices to create intense electrical discharges that would reduce emissions before they reach the air. "Through a miracle of physics and chemistry, you can get rid of soot," Mr. Gundersen says. He and other scientists say the pollution reducing technology could be commercially available in several years, if it's made more efficient. Scientists are already deploying pulsed power against bread mold. Maxwell Laboratories Inc. in San Diego formed its Foodco Corp. unit in 1988 to explore the potential uses of pulsed power for food processing. The company, partly owned by the Kraft General Foods unit of Philip Morris Cos. and Tetralaval of Sweden, uses pulsed power to pasteurize liquids without heating them, and to kill bacteria on packaging and solid foods. Chicken-Pot Pies Sixteen chicken-pot pies, most of them moldy, sit on a metal cart in Foodco's microbiology lab. But mold hasn't attacked four or five pies that have been treated by a light-sterilization method dubbed Pure-Bright. The technology works on processed foods such as pies by zapping them, through their plastic packaging, with 20 to 30 pulses of light lasting a few hundredths of a second each. The combination of the type of light and pulse frequency kills bacteria, extending the shelf life of foods 'for weeks or months," says Alan C. Kolb, Maxwell's chief executive officer. If regulators approve, commercial use could come in a year to 16 months, Foodco says. A big advantage to pulsed power, some scientists say, is its ability to perform the same tasks as radiation without the harmful side effects. Pulsed-power advocates note that irradiation of foods requires extra protection for technicians and has alarmed some consumer groups; they also contend pulsed power can wipe out bacteria without the physical and chemical changes radiation causes. (However, Dr. Elsa Murano, a microbiologist researching irradiation at lowa State University, says irradiation facilities require protective concrete walls, but that the technology doesn't change food "in any way different from cooking or freezing.") That principle is fueling experiments with pulsed-power laser beams for cancer treatment and other medical applications. At the Baylor Research Institute in Dallas, scientists are working with lasers to wipe out tumors. Page 2 Other promising uses for pulsed power include spot welding, powering electric vehicles, reducing diesel-engine exhaust fumes, and even pest control. There's an experiment under way in Springfield, Calif., to see if pulsed power can stem a growing invasion of zebra mussels by creating underwater shock waves to crush their shells. Despite growing interest, though, pulsed-power researchers face a bureaucratic hurdle over reduced and reallocated funding. So some scientists are starting to venture out of their laboratories and into the public eye in search of capital. A workshop on the commercial applications of pulsed power, the first of its kind, is slated for August. But the uncharted move from lab to consumer may be the most difficult experiment of all. "There's such a gap between people who do research and people who are more entrepreneurial in spirit," says USC's Mr. Gundersen, who plans to attend the workshop and hopes a few venture capitalists will show up. -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have comments or other information relating to such topics as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page. Thank you for your consideration, interest and support. Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet -------------------------------------------------------------------- If we can be of service, you may contact Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 3