IN September 2018, Founder and CEO Ayyoub Momen PhD was authorized to begin preparing his Ultrasonic Technology Solutions LLC (UTS) for its 2020 spin-out from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Momen, now 44, is 100% owner of UTS, which has thus far been funded by approximately $3MM in nondilutive grant fundings and roughly $1MM in commercial project revenues, in addition to the founder's personal investment.
Knoxville-based UTS carries an exclusive ORNL intellectual property (IP) license that allows it to commercialize solutions for drying clothing, carpets and other textiles, as well as for de-icing of industrial infrastructure.
UTS's commercialization model requires establishing industrial partnerships for adaptation of UTS technologies for specific applications.
It's worth noting that UTS's role--and the roles of other firms with analogous missions--could prove synergistic with the State of Tennessee's recently launched Innovation & Research for Industry Success (IRIS) Grant Program, details here.
In the context of fabric-drying, UTS's equipment has proven dramatically faster and 3x-5x more energy-efficient than conventional dryers.
UTS says its solutions obviate the need for much more costly heated drying by instead using high-frequency vibration of piezoelectric components to energetically shake moisture-bearing materials, leaving only a trace of cool mist to be expelled via airflow or reclaimed via the UTS system.
Momen told VNC he was free to disclose three of his six current industry partners: NASA, TVA and Navis TubeTex.
He continues to scout for additional partners in other industry sectors. UTS lists an array of contract relationships through which it performs product or service development and-or pilot testing.
Momen said UTS operations are currently self-sustaining. However, projected needs for partnering, production and shipping capacity could lead to a capital raise or other financing by 2027.
Momen said UTS plans for 2026 include introduction of a fabric refresher for use with its hardware and a "data logger actuator" (for monitoring and adjusting performance variables).
He also said that by mid-2027 he projects the company is likely to offer a "small combo washer and dryer" for commercial-industrial users.
Thanks in part to the protection of its ORNL license and the years of R&D behind it, Momen says he sees no direct competitors at this time.
UTS's progress has, however, drawn interest. One attention-getter has been its efforts to develop for partner NASA a washer and dryer that works in space.
The firm is also working with NASA to devise a solution for drying human waste deposited aboard the International Space Station National Laboratory (ISS NL).
The partners plan to test that application during a low Earth orbit space mission, yet to be scheduled.
More recently, Momen said, a UTS defrosting and de-icing solution has been tested by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), for possible use in maintaining each of four TVA nuclear reactors that are outfitted with ice condenser containment systems.
Momen said today he awaits disclosure of the outcome of that TVA testing. Related: 1 | 2 | 3 |
Though there are few ice condenser systems in use at nuclear plants in the U.S., VNC research suggests the results of the UTS-TVA de-icing project could grab attention among power infrastructure operators, particularly those who are still coping with ice-borne damages and controversy that accompanied Winter Storm Uri and other 2021 catastrophes.
Momen's core team at UTS varies from 5 to 10 FTE, depending on project flows and related factors. His team are listed here.
Momen said his efforts have also been assisted by personnel of the East Tennessee Economic Council, the University of Tennessee's Tickle College of Engineering, the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, and by Tennessee Technology Development Corporation dba Launch Tennessee, among others.
Asked about UTS's business advisors, Momen cited attorney with Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel (Chattanooga) and with Sinorica LLC dba Thoughts To Paper (Germantown, Md.); bankers with First Citizens Bank; and, accountants with PYA (Knoxville), DeSalvo & Company (Cincinnati) and Tri-Merit LLC (Tysons Corner, Ann Arbor, Schaumburg).
While a member of ORNL's Building Technologies Research and Integration Center staff 2013-2020, Momen led development of the technology he subsequently licensed from ORNL. See here and here.
In 2016, ORNL reported a breakthrough by its researchers in discovering factors key to piezoelectric performance, one of a set of issues that had challenged researchers at least as far back as the 1890s.
Momen earned his PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Florida, and his master's in mechanical engineering at Sharif University of Technology, in Tehran.
Brief VNC research online suggests Momen's UTS currently has few, if any pure-play competitors.
Moreover, Momen continues to innovate: In addition to securing the exclusive ORNL license upon which he founded UTS, Momen has since 2020 made at least seven proprietary IP filings (Justia).
That said, we found some other companies that are presently focused on aerospace, defense and other sectors that struck us as hypothetical entrants into adjacent markets--for example, U.S.-based GuidedWave Ultrasonics and France/U.S.-based Pytheas Technology. VNC
.last edited 1255 18 November 2025