Offices: Cleveland - USA, Tokyo - Japan, Leuven - Belgium www.ninesigma.com RFP format and graphics© Copyright 2011 NineSigma, Inc

REQUEST # 67512 Stay-clean Fuel Injector Tips

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL DESCRIPTION

NineSigma, on behalf of a Global Supplier of Automotive Technology invites proposals for surface treatments to eliminate the formation of carbon deposits on fuel injector tips. The successful technology will:

Prevent the formation of porous carbon deposits on fuel injector tips as determined by testing in bench gasoline engines

Be compatible with existing Internal Combustion (IC) engines, Fuel injectors

Fulfill automotive standards for durability o 15 year lifetime o 150,000 miles service life o Pass accelerated aging tests with

multiple major aumotive companies BACKGROUND

The fine particulates associated with diesel exhaust are now well known to be a health hazard. Increasingly, particulates from gasoline engines are coming under scrutiny and regulatory attention. (Summaries of the regulatory requirements can be found here:

European Regulations). One source of these particulates has been traced to the buildup of carbon deposits on fuel injectors. These porous carbon deposits act as reservoir for fuel and causes a rich flame around these deposits. The source of the carbon is believed to be tiny amounts of liquid with no forward momentum left in the channel and at the tip when the fuel injector valve (pintle) closes during each cycle. Work continues on the physical design of the fuel injector to minimize the residual liquid. There has been some semi-successful work on the use of coatings to reduce this problem, and these approaches rather than the physical design of the injector are the focus of this request. Typically coatings projects can specify coating properties sought, such as surface energy, that serve as surrogates for performance in the intended application. To date, no such surrogate has been identified for this application, and only test runs on bench gasoline engines have proven useful for determining the effectivenss of the treatment or design.

RESPONSE DUE DATE: December 2, 2011

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MANAGER: David Feitler, Ph.D.

SOLUTION PROVIDER HELP DESK

EMAIL: PhD@ninesigma.com PHONE: +1-216-283-3901

Opportunity

Licensing, material acquisition, contract research, proof of concept leading to scale up to manufacturing, joint development agreement.

Timeline

Phase 1 – Proof of concept by January 2012 Phase 2 – Joint development of product(s) to be started by March 2012 Financials

Licensing fees for successful technology will be reasonable and customary. Support for sample preparation and development work will be negotiated based on the scope of work. Up to €50,000 can be allocated for early phase work.

NineSigma Request # 67512 Stay-clean Fuel Injector Tips Page 2

Offices: Cleveland - USA, Tokyo - Japan, Leuven - Belgium www.ninesigma.com

POSSIBLE APPROACHES

Possible approaches might include, but are not limited to:

Tip coatings or impregnation that encourage burning of the carbon deposit (as found in self-cleaning ovens for example) but that do NOT in turn act as fuel reservoir and recreate the same problem they are intended to solve

Coatings to which carbon and/or gasoline and gasoline additives do not stick, or fall off of easily.

APPROACHES TO AVOID

Undesired approaches include:

Redesign of fuel injectors, or IC engines

Changes to IC engine operating conditions or fuel cycles

Alternative fuels

Addition of any equipment to IC engines or injector assemblies

ANTICIPATED PROJECT PHASES OR PROJECT PLAN

Phase 1 – In the case of a coating, you will apply your coating to test injector parts provided by client. In the case of materials, materials will be provided to client for fabrication of test injector parts Phase 2 – Incorporation of technology into production methods CRITERIA FOR MOVING FROM PHASE 1 TO PHASE 2

Performance that greatly reduces carbon deposits compared to the best existing injector systems, and can be demonstrated to reduce particulates leaving the engine. APPROPRIATE RESPONDERS TO THIS REQUEST

Responses from companies (small to large), academic researchers, other research institutes, consultants, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, or inventors are welcome. For Example: You represent a company developing a turn-key solution to this problem Or You represent a company that has demonstrated fouling resistant surface technology for fuel injector’s use in furnaces, turbines, jet engines etc. Or

you represent the developer of a coatings technology that you believe is resistant to the conditions of a modern IC engine and have reason to believe would prevent carbon buildup. RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST

The proposal template provides both an easy means of responding to this request and a framework for best presenting your response to NineSigma’s client. It also contains information about how NineSigma presents responses to our client. Some items that will be especially important to present in your response are:

Evidence for resistance to carbon buildup

Capabilities for quality control

Capability to supply in large quantities

Preferred business model

Intellectual property status

NON-CONFIDENTIAL DISCLOSURE

By submitting a Response you represent that the Response does not and will not be deemed to contain any confidential information of any kind whatsoever. Your Response should be an executive summary (about 3 pages). The Response should briefly describe the technical approach and provide information on technology performance, background, and description of the responding team and their related experience. By submitting a Response, you acknowledge that NineSigma’s client reserves the sole and absolute right and discretion to select for award all, some, or none of the Responses received for this announcement. NineSigma’s client also may choose to select only specific tasks within a proposal for award. NineSigma's client has the sole and absolute discretion to determine all award amounts.

RESPONSE EVALUATION

NineSigma’s client will evaluate the Response using the

following criteria:

Overall scientific and technical merit of the proposed approach

Approach to proof of concept or performance

Potential for proprietary position (i.e., is the technology novel or protectable)

Economic potential of concept

Respondent’s capabilities and related experience

Realism of the proposed plan and cost estimates

The client will contact respondents with highly responsive proposals for next steps.