Welcome to the ScottGrimshaw.net, home to the R&D page of Scott Grimshaw. Here you will find a sampling of the technology projects currently underway in my lab in Greenville, SC. Most are offshoots of the work I did at Tangidyne Corp (www.tangidyne.com)
The mission of ScottGrimshaw.net is to illustrate my contract research and innovation capabilities. Some are exploratory, purely for curiosities sake. Others are the result of a research grant and/or privately funded effort. I have efforts currently progressing in nanotechnology sensing, improved production methods for thin film solar cells, organic LED (flexible) lighting and medical or environmental applications.
Background
I currently run a company called Tangidyne, based in Greenville, SC, which researches and manufactures a variety of solid state electronic sensors. Tangidyne was split in 2010 into two parts: a research and development business and a production/applied development effort.
I worked in the semiconductor and optics industries for 10 years on integrated circuits, optical devices and solid state electronic sensors. In mid 1987 I decided to strike off on my own. I created a sensor company in 1990 named Cold Springs R&D. Cold Springs manufactured a quartz crystal sensor used to measure thin film coatings made by a technique called vacuum deposition. These quartz sensors are used by manufacturers of lenses, lcd monitors and a variety of electronic and optical products. Cold Springs R&D eventually captured approximately 50% of the US market in the 13 years I ran the firm. In December 2003 Cold Springs was sold to a sales group in Boston, Massachusetts. In January 2004 I created Tangidyne Corp. The mission was to create things the average person might actually use. For all its financial reward, it is quite numbing making stuff so far removed from the human experience. Tangidyne has been awarded 4 US patents and has 3 more applied for in fields as diverse as cargo container security, candles, and air quality sensing. I am now building products based on several of these patents.
Active Projects
I'm experimenting with a mold detector for indoor air quality monitoring, based on my patented transparent quartz crystal sensor technology. It's designed to detect the early stages of black mold (Stachybotrys chartarum), a fungus that has been linked to respiratory illness and possibly death in infants (the Cleveland Outbreak).
I have built a door hinge, dubbed the SmartHinge™, that doubles as a self powered RF transmitter . This hinge, which can be used in applications in homes, cargo containers, tractor trailers and the like, sends a uniquely coded wireless signal (WiFi) whenever the hinge is moved. It will never need batteries.
Now why would anybody need something like this? Well, people put bombs in all kinds of places. Or they smuggle bad things into a country. Most things get transported by ships. We wanted to make a way of telling if the door seals on those big metal cargo containers were tampered with. Plus, there was no point in making something where the batteries would die, eventually. What good is that? Hence the idea of a self powered sensing system.
This device can incorporated into a cargo container security system. A related application is for use in monitoring cargo on trucks, or building security systems.
I am currently working on safety products. First off is a chemiluminescent (light produced by chemicals mixed together) clothing line. Based on the "glow" stick technology, the first product is a safety vest that shows the profile of the wearer in low or no light conditions.
Picture a rescue worker in a foggy or smoky environment. It would be very nice to actually see him, and for him to be seen. But we cant go around wiring up these people with lights and batteries that weigh a ton, now can we? So the idea evolved of a very light and inexpensive way to make them stand out.
What is unique about our approach is the use of a centralized mixing chamber on the vest which mixes and pumps the activated reagents only when needed. That means you can turn it on with one press of a button or one whack of a breakable packet. Easy enough. This vest can also be recharged for repeated uses.
