Anode Flex - Flexible plastic electrodes for corrosion prevention.

Problem:  Oil and gas pipelines are readily corroded when exposed to soil or water and usually require specialized coating and complicated impressed current cathodic protection systems.  My employer at the time (Raychem Corporation) was heavily involved in the pipeline coating market, produced the coatings used to enable the Alaskan Pipeline and was looking for innovative ways to expand their market in the pipeline protection industry.

Solution:  Utilizing my background in electrochemistry I led a small team of materials scientists to develop the worlds first flexible plastic anode which could be simply trenched alongside pipelines or other structures to provide cost effective cathodic protection without need deep well anode beds and the engineering challenges they presented.

The product was patented and commercialized within two years and has been in the market for over 40 years!  It has been a solid cash cow business and laid the foundation for the adoption of “plastic electrodes” in multiple energy (battery) and sensor products since.