US Patent Issued to Northwestern University on April 15 for "Devices for and methods of forming segregated layers from mixtures of granular materials" (Illinois, Michigan Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,275,605, issued on April 15, was assigned to Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.).

"Devices for and methods of forming segregated layers from mixtures of granular materials" was invented by Paul B. Umbanhowar (Evanston, Ill.), Richard M. Lueptow (Evanston, Ill.) and Yi Fan (Midland, Mich.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Layering of initially mixed granular dissimilar material components deposited by surface flow is realized by varying the relative angle of the flowing layer periodically with respect to the bulk of the pile formed. Layer thickness and extent can be controlled by varying the timing and extent of the surface variations. V...