Coliant Corporation wins Macomb County Business Recognition Awards for “Most Diversified Portfolio” Feb. 2015
As an award winning developer of several technologies including Rugged Electrix™, Microclimate Technology™, and Tailored Fiber Placement™, Coliant Corporation, a small and innovative company located at the Oakland University/Macomb Incubator in Sterling Heights has made their mark serving the automotive and powersport industries. More recently, they have deepened their prior relationship with the Department of Defense and are now in negotiations with companies in several industries including sporting goods and aerospace. Presently Coliant is engaged with more than 10 Fortune 500 companies.

While Coliant works to improve the comfort, convenience and safety for motorcyclists through the worldwide manufacture and distribution of their products, their recent work with Microclimate Technology has garnered the interest of the Department of Defense.

Microclimate Technology has been tested in some of the toughest environments on planet earth. Twenty-Five degrees with 80 mile/hr. winds are not a problem. Both manned and un-manned testing has been performed by the Department of Defense with excellent results published by the Office of Naval Research.

Their newest technology, Tailored Fiber Placement, allows their customers to orient fibers along the load cases in their products to create a substantially lighter weight, stronger part with a lower production cost. Verified by Oakridge National Laboratories and Michigan State University’s Advanced Automotive Composites Laboratory, this breakthrough technology leads the industry in the lightweighting of vehicles.

In a press release from December 2014, Coliant shares that the Naval Surface Warfare Center researchers at the Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) have demonstrated a breakthrough diver thermal protection technology that can warm divers indefinitely in very cold water using four to six times less power than previously designed systems.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) funded the research which was primarily conducted at NSWC PCD in Panama City, Florida this past year. The next step is to transition this technology into both dry and wet cold environment applications and develop mission-specific prototype garments for further testing.
The technology was developed through a collaborative ONR “Swampworks” research effort between NSWC PCD, the University of Montana’s Center for Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism (WPEM), and defense contractors SAIC and the Coliant Corporation.

The U.S. Navy in Panama City, Florida has been investigating diver thermal protection technologies since the SEALAB experiments in the 1960s. Since salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water, ocean temperatures in winter can reach as low as 29° F creating a very challenging environment for Navy divers. Cold skin temperatures lead to a loss of muscle strength and an inability to manipulate tools. Continued exposure to cold water can lead to the loss of core body temperature, called hypothermia, which can cause death in extreme situations. Navy divers are consistently challenged when working in cold water whether the mission is neutralizing mines, changing out the propeller of a ship, or riding in a SEAL Delivery Vehicle.

“We are very excited about the initial results of our investigation,” said NSWC PCD Project Engineer John Klose. “Coliant’s CNC fibers have the right combination of physical, thermal, and electrical properties that allow us to build an electrically-heated undergarment that would not be possible using traditional technologies. The biggest risk from previous designs of electrically-heated diver thermal protection suits has been the potential for hot spots within the suit that could burn the diver. These new fibers use less power and generate heat at a lower overall temperature than traditional technologies. This allows us to design a diver heated undergarment that is much safer and much more energy efficient than previous diver heating system designs.”

“Having a safer and more energy efficient design solution for heated clothing can greatly improve the military’s performance in many operational missions that are conducted in extreme environments,” says Coliant President, John Swiatek. “Soldiers trekking through mountain passes, helicopter air crews in the North Atlantic in January, ground crew on a wintry airfield, or sailors working on aircraft carrier flight deck must all deal with harsh, cold weather environments. This technology even has application in combat casualty care for preventing or delaying the onset of shock and potentially extending what is known as the golden hour.”

Coliant Corporation’s Engineering Support person Mike Bush relaxes in a test tank during thermal protection studies and testing while VP of Business Development Adam Bonislawski stays warm within the environmental lab at University of Montana’s Center for Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism (WPEM).