Hi-Z Technology, Inc.

Company Profile

Founded in 1988, Hi-Z is a small R & D oriented thermoelectric business of 18 engineers, physicists, metallurgists and technicians who design, develop, manufacture, and market bulk material Thermoelectric Modules and Generator systems, ranging from milliwatt size to multiple kilowatt size in power output, based on Hi-Z's patented gapless eggcrate technology. Recognized as a world leader in the emerging market of power producing thermoelectric modules. Hi-Z's mission is to expand upon the modestly sized bulk material thermoelectric product to develop, manufacture and commercialize the next generation of high efficiency Thermoelectric modules, called Quantum Wells, which show promise of conversion efficiencies ranging from 15% to 40%, which will lead the way to energy recovery in several industries.

Management Team

Mr. John C. Bass

Mr. Bass is one of Hi-Z's Founders and currently serves as Chairman. He was Acting President from October to December 2010 and Vice-President since Hi-Z's inception. Mr. Bass currently has been involved in the development of new applications and modules for both conventional and quantum well thermoelectric systems. Mr. Bass has initiated many thermoelectric developments for Hi-Z, including a 1kW thermoelectric generator which was used to convert waste heat in the exhaust of the Diesel engine directly to electricity, the self-powered pellet stove and heater for recreational vehicles, a prototype generator for sensor systems that harvest its energy from small (5°C) differences in the ambient environment, as well as the 40mW radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Prior to helping found Hi-Z in 1988, Mr. Bass was Chief Engineer of Thermoelectric Systems and Design at General Atomics. Mr. Bass has also authored numerous papers in the thermoelectric, thermophotovoltaic and automotive fields, and is the author/co-author of thirteen US and foreign patents relating to thermal to electric conversion and nuclear energy. Mr. Bass holds both his BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California Berkeley, and is a California registered Professional Engineer.

Mr. Daniel Krommenhoek

Mr. Krommenhoek became Hi-Z's CEO in January 2011 and prior, served as Program Manager since joining in March 2004. He is responsible for thermoelectric generator development and modules with quantum well thermoelectric materials. He is currently working on solving technical challenges to achieve record breaking high efficiency quantum well thermoelectric modules and portable thermoelectric generators. He brings extensive experience in direct energy conversion and advanced concepts to this work. Mr. Krommenhoek has managed GE and Lockheed Martin projects on mechanical design, advanced materials, thermal design, fluid flow, thermophotovoltaics, thermoelectrics, acoustics, nuclear reactor design, advanced energy sources, lasers and water radiolysis. He has served as Vice President of Quantum Group. Mr. Krommenhoek also has extensive technology and design experience gained from his work on nuclear safety, reactor energy conversion systems, nuclear quality, nuclear reactor test programs, direct energy conversion, acoustics and reactor design at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Mr. Krommenhoek holds a BSME from Lafayette College, Easton, PA, a MSME from Cornell University and is a New York registered Professional Engineer.

Dr. Saeid Ghamaty

Dr. Ghamaty heads up the QW development at Hi-Z and is responsible for the eventual fabrication and evaluation of the films and technical coordination. Dr. Ghamaty has been involved with QW thermoelectrics since their inception on a DOE funded SBIR in 1994 and presented the first thermoelectric experimental data demonstrating that multiple layers of Si/SiGe QWs yield large gains in the power factor (Seebeck coefficient2/electrical resistivity) and the resultant high figures of merit (Z) which are very favorable for power and cooling applications. Since these initial studies, he has been developing the B4C/B9C QW materials for power applications which are exhibiting ZTs that are 3 to 4 times better than the present bulk Bi2Te3 based alloys. He has recently measured an efficiency of 14% on a Si substrate. Dr. Ghamaty is the prime author/co-author of several QW patents including Si/SiGe, B4C/B9C and Si/SiC materials. Dr. Ghamaty holds a B.S. in Physics & Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology and both a M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Aleksandr Kushch

Dr. Kushch has been with Hi-Z since October 2000 and is involved in the development of QW thermoelectric technology. Previously, Dr. Kushch, as Program Manager was responsible for developing various waste heat recovery (military and commercial vehicles), auxiliary power generators as well as self-powered appliances for the US Army, Navy and industrial customers. In 2008-2009, Dr Kushch directed projects focused on the development of portable military APU's and TEG's for applications for BAE systems. From 1992 to 1999, Dr. Kushch as a senior Director in Quantum Group, Dr. Kushch directed multiple projects for thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power generation, DOE and CEC for self-powered appliances, combustion driven laser development and near-infrared surveillance system design. Dr. Kushch has authored/co-authored in multiple technical papers in the field of energy conversion. He has also authored/co-authored six US Patents and seven former USSR Patents. Dr. Kushch holds a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences from the Academy of Sciences former USSR, and a MSME from Kiev Polytechnical University (former USSR).

Mr. Frederick Leavitt

Mr. Leavitt rejoined Hi-Z full-time in 2009 and is currently the joint Program Manager on a project to design and create a higher temperature, higher efficiency thermoelectric module compared to Hi-Z's current bulk Bismuth Telluride (Bi2Te3) modules. He is also involved in the design and fabrication of test and measurement instrumentation for thermoelectrics. Mr. Leavitt was also formerly the Engineering Manager with Global Thermoelectric Power Systems Ltd where he worked for ten years designing thermoelectric systems. Mr Leavitt has also worked with Kyocera Wireless, where he was a Staff Engineer/Manager leading a team that was responsible for all of the batteries used in Kyocera products. These tasks included the design, manufacture and qualification of new designs. Mr. Leavitt holds several patents related to thermoelectrics, batteries and other materials. Mr. Leavitt received a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego.

Dr. John McCoy

Dr. McCoy has been with Hi-Z since June 2007, and is the joint Program Manager on a project to design and create a higher temperature, higher efficiency thermoelectric module compared to Hi-Z's current bulk Bismuth Telluride (Bi2Te3) modules. He is also involved in the design and fabrication of test and measurement instrumentation for thermoelectrics. Previously, Dr. McCoy worked on the development of bonding and fabrication technology in support of a NASA JPL initiative to develop a more efficient radioisotope thermoelectric generator for deep space probes. His career specialization has been in the development and analysis of metal/ceramic, metal/carbon, and carbon/ceramic interfaces in the application areas of both aerospace composites and also in electronic packaging. In the area of thermal management for electronic packaging, he developed low thermal expansion, high thermal conductivity, copper-matrix composites using both graphitic foams and diamond particles for the second phase. Dr. McCoy received a B.S. in Physics from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, and a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Mr. Velimir Jovanovic

Mr. Jovanovic, has been with Hi-Z since July 2001 and is the Project Manager on a program currently analyzing and designing a novel Quantum Well (QW) thermoelectric (TE) nanocooler. Previously he was the Principal Investigator of a program to analyze, design, fabricate and test an energy-harvesting QW TE power generator for wireless sensors. Mr. Jovanovic has extensive experience in the TE technology, thermal design, thermal management, and devising thermal control techniques. Previously, at Boeing, Mr. Jovanovic was a Principal Engineer responsible for the thermal design of the Delta IV launch vehicle from the proposal stage to the analysis, design and fabrication. Prior to Boeing, he was a Staff Engineer at General Atomics with the responsibility for the thermal analysis and design of civilian nuclear reactor components and systems. Mr. Jovanovic holds a MSME and BSME degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana. He is a Member of ASME and a California Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer. He is the author of several recent papers on QW TE devices. He has three US patents and another one pending.

Ms. Jill Elsner

Ms. Elsner joined Hi-Z in August 2006 and is the Chief Financial Officer/Administrator, responsible for financial related matters of Hi-Z as well as contract administration and other non technical issues. Prior to Hi-Z, Ms. Elsner successfully started, grew and then sold a Hong Kong based international tax practice, which provides US and Asian tax return preparation and advice to US citizens and residents, US owned foreign businesses and to non-residents engaged in a US trade or business. Ms. Elsner commenced working as a tax professional with an international accounting firm, and over a seven year period, had the opportunity to work in their San Francisco, Melbourne, Sydney and Hong Kong offices. Ms. Elsner holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting, graduate degrees in both Taxation and Economics and is a California licensed Certified Public Accountant.

FORMER CO-FOUNDER AND CEO

Mr. Norbert B. Elsner - October 25, 1933 - December 2, 2010

Mr. Elsner was one of Hi-Z's three Co-Founders and served as its CEO from inception until his passing. Mr. Elsner was responsible for Hi-Z's overall technical and management of the Company. Mr. Elsner's specialties included the development of solid state energy conversion devices - thermoelectrics (primarily), thermionics, thermophotovoltaic and electrically conducting ceramics. Mr. Elsner lead Hi-Z's low-cost development of thermoelectrics for numerous waste heat applications and stand-alone thermoelectric generators for various applications. Other programs he pursued included 1) the very promising multilayer quantum well program which has demonstrated that the various alternating materials of Si/SiGe, Si/SiC and B4C/B9C can increase conversion efficiencies several fold, 2) the ongoing 40 milliWatt power supplies developed for DOE/NASA for space applications as well as to power wireless sensors, and 3) the segmenting of various thermoelectric materials over very wide operating temperatures to increase efficiency. Prior to helping found Hi-Z in 1988, Mr. Elsner was responsible for the management of advanced energy conversion systems involving thermoelectrics at General Atomics. Mr. Elsner also authored numerous papers in the thermoelectric field, and was the author/co-author of many US and foreign patents relating to thermal to electric conversion and nuclear energy. Mr. Elsner earned a BS degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Metallurgical Engineering as well as a MBA from Pepperdine University and was a California registered Metallurgical Engineer.