US Patent 8080278 - Cold gas spraying of nanoparticles

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8080278.html

Thermal spraying is used to deposit and adhere nanoparticle films on substrates but is only practical for types of nanoparticles having a high temperature stability. This patent from Siemens teaches a cold gas spraying method enabling the deposition of nanoparticles having low temperature stability. Claim 1 reads:

1. A cold gas spraying method, comprising:

providing a substrate to be coated;

directing a cold gas jet at the substrate to be coated; and

forming the coating upon the substrate by the addition of microencapsulated agglomerates of nanoparticles via the cold gas jet.

US Patent 7653996 - Nanoparticles for crack repair in gas turbine

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7653996.html

Turbine engines undergo high thermal and mechanical stress during operation which can produce cracks and limit their life expectancy. This patent from Siemens AG teaches the benefits of using nanoparticles to improve life expectancy such as the low melting point of nanoparticles and penetration into smaller cracks. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of repairing a crack in a gas turbine component having a base material characterized by an annealing temperature, comprising:

forming a suspension comprising a carrier liquid and nanoparticles which are not soluble in the carrier liquid;

applying the suspension to penetrate into the crack to be repaired;

heating the suspension at a first temperature to evaporate carrier liquid with the nanoparticles being compacted; and

further heating the component to a more elevated temperature below the annealing temperature, wherein the elevated temperature is approximately 50 K above the first temperature and below the melting temperature of the base material, to melt the nanoparticles and form a bond between the nanoparticles and the base material, the further heating at the more elevated temperature having a duration of less than 30 minutes.

US Patent 7446870 - Sensor for classifying nanoparticle sizes

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7446870.html

This patent from Siemens teaches forming surfaces by molecular imprinting having different sized pores matching with corresponding nanoparticles that are desired to be detected and classified. Such a technique could potentially be useful to form multi-color LEDs using nanocrystals having emission frequencies that correspond to the nanocrystals diameter. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for verification of nanoparticles, said method comprising:

providing a plurality of sensor areas on which the nanoparticles to be verified accumulate when said nanoparticles are present, and

monitoring the characteristics of the plurality of sensor areas with respect to one parameter which varies on the basis of the accumulation of the nanoparticles,

wherein the plurality of sensor areas are made available, and are sensitive to nanoparticles of different sizes and the plurality of sensor areas have a specificity to specific size classes of nanoparticles.