Delphi Honors Top Inventors With 'Boss' Kettering Award

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    TROY, Mich., April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Delphi (NYSE:   DPH) today named 20 of
 its top inventors as "Boss" Kettering Award winners, one of the company's most
 prestigious engineering achievements.
     (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020315/DEF002LOGO )
     The annual awards are named for Charles "Boss" Kettering, the first vice
 president of the GM Research Laboratories.  Kettering was a prolific inventor,
 with more than 140 patents registered in his name.
     "The 'Boss' Kettering Awards are a long-standing part of Delphi's ongoing
 heritage, dating back more than 25 years," said Dr. Andrew Brown, Jr.,
 Delphi's director of engineering.  This is the third year Delphi is running
 the program independent of the GM-Delphi "Boss" Kettering Awards program.
     "These 20 men and women are true innovators that are securing Delphi's
 future as a technology leader," said Brown.
     Each inventor not only receives the "Boss" Kettering Award but also will
 be inducted into Delphi's Innovation Hall of Fame, Delphi's highest
 engineering honor.  To date, Delphi's prestigious Innovation Hall of Fame has
 inducted nearly 400 members.  Less than one percent of Delphi's scientists,
 engineers and technicians are eligible and considered for admission each year.
 This year's award winners and their innovations are:
 
     *  Recognition(TM) Passive Occupant Detection System - Inventors: Hamid
 Borzabadi, Robert Cashler, Gregory Cobb, Robert Constable, Duane Fortune,
 Morgan Murphy, Robert Myers, Robert Perisho, William Piper, Pamela Roe, Karl
 Stone, Stuart Sullivan and Mark Vincen.  Delphi's Recognition(TM) passive
 occupant detection system is a seat-based sensor that provides information to
 the airbag computer to determine whether to suppress or allow vehicle
 passenger airbag deployment based on the passenger's weight classification.
 It is the first validated technology designed to help automakers meet new
 federal standards designed to minimize airbag injuries.  Delphi was the first
 company to have this innovative vehicle passenger weight measurement
 technology market-ready in a commercial application, and also the first to
 fully develop a truly passive system, not dependent on driver interaction.  In
 addition, the system is universally adaptable to most seat types without
 affecting seat crashworthiness or comfort.
     *  MAGNASTEER(TM) - Inventors: Joel Birsching, David Graber, Andrzej
 Pawlak, Thomas Perry and Michael Richardson.  MAGNASTEER(TM) provides a
 variable torsional rate in the steering gear through the operation of a
 magnetic machine, which has been integrated into the steering gear.  A coil
 within the magnetic machine regulates the torsional rate of the device.
 During parking maneuvers, steering effort is reduced by subtracting torsional
 rate from the valve.  As vehicle speed increases, the torsional rate increases
 to provide improved highway feel and stability.  MAGNASTEER(TM) offers a high
 degree of vehicle tunability -- providing a wide range of effort between
 parking and highway operation.  Considered a benchmark system in the industry,
 MAGNASTEER(TM) offers crisp and precise handling at all vehicle speeds.
     *  Water Shedding Evaporator for Automotive Air Conditioning System -
 Inventors: Dr. Mohinder Bhatti, Shrikant Joshi and Gary Vreeland.  The
 evaporator is an essential part of the automotive air conditioning system.
 During the process of dehumidification, water vapor is removed from the air
 and deposited in the form of a liquid film on the external cold surface of the
 evaporator.  One of the problems associated with the water deposition on the
 evaporator surface is the generation of a stale and musty odor under certain
 conditions, which is caused by microbial growth in a humid environment.  In
 addition, the excess water retained in the evaporator core can get entrained
 in the air stream in the form of fine mist-like droplets.  Delphi's water
 shedding evaporator can curb the malodor producing microbial growth by
 minimizing water retention in the evaporator.  Previously, mitigating the
 water droplet entrainment in the air stream entering the passenger compartment
 meant the addition of a stainless steel or foam screen on the downstream face
 of the evaporator.  The water shedding evaporator has now made it possible to
 remove those screens.
 
     For more information about Delphi, please visit Delphi's Virtual Press
 Room at www.delphi.com/vpr .
 
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SOURCE  Delphi