Email: brom@psfc.mit.edu

Leslie Bromberg

About Leslie

Dr. Bromberg has worked for over a decade reforming hydrocarbon fuels, mostly using plasmas. With Prof. Wai Cheng from MIT, he has been investigating the potential role of methanol in transportation in the US. He is also a participant, in a DOE efforts to evaluate the use of two fuels in SI engines (two fuels, the first one being conventional gasoline and the second one being a high octane fuel additive). He is also working on particulate control of diesel engines, as part of the Filter Sensing Technologies, a company started to develop RF-based soot-sensors of DPFs.

Professional interests: Engines, combustion and engine modeling, PM emission sensing, plasma chemistry, energy and fuels.

Education

  • PhD., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Cambridge MA. 1977
  • BS., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electric Engineering and Computer Science, Cambridge MA, 1973

Experience

  • Research Scientist, Princeton University, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, May 1977-Oct 1977
  • Research Scientist, Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory, Oct 1977-June 1979
  • Research Scientist, Plasma Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, July 1979-Jun 1985
  • Group Lead, Plasma Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, July 1985-Jun 1996
  • Principal Research Scientist, Plasma Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, July 1996-present
  • President and co-founder, Maine Research and Technology, Sanford ME, Jan 1990-Dec 2001
  • President and co-founder, Hydrogen Microplasmatron Technologies, Cambridge MA, Jan 2001-Dec 2005
  • Treasurer and co-founder, Ethanol Boosting Systems, Cambridge MA; Jan 2006-present
  • Co-Founder, Filter Sensing Technologies, Cambridge MA; 2008-present

Patents

Inventor or co-inventor of over 50 US issued patents. The most relevant patents are:
  • L. Bromberg, A. Sappok, W.H. Green and D.R. Cohn, ENGINE REFORMER SYSTEMS FOR LOWER COST, SMALLER SCALE MANUFACTURING OF METHANOL AND OTHER GAS TO LIQUIDS (GTL) PRODUCTS April 18, 2012.
  • Rabinovich, Alexander, Cohn, Daniel R., Bromberg, Leslie, Plasmatron-internal combustion engine system, US patent 5437250,
  • Cohn, Daniel R., Bromberg, Leslie, et al., Low power compact plasma fuel converter, US patent 6322757
  • Bromberg, Leslie, Rabinovich, Alexander, Homogeneous charge compression ignition control utilizing plasmatron fuel converter technology, US patent 6981472
  • Bromberg, Leslie, Cohn, Daniel R., Rabinovich, Alexander et al., Plasmatron-catalyst system, US patent 7279143
  • Smaling, Rudolf M., Bromberg, Leslie et al., Apparatus and method for operating a fuel reformer so as to purge soot therefrom, US patent 7285247
  • Heywood, John, Bromberg, Leslie, Cohn, Daniel, High compression ratio, high power density homogeneous charge compression ignition engines using hydrogen and carbon monoxide to enhance auto-ignition resistance, US patent 7290522
  • Rabinovich, Alexander, Alexeev, Nikolai, Samokhin, Andrei, Bromberg, Leslie et al., Wide dynamic range multistage plasmatron reformer system, US patent 7381382
  • Rabinovich, Alexander, Alexeev, Nikolai, Bromberg, Leslie et al., Plasmatron fuel converter having decoupled air flow control, US patent 7407634
  • Rabinovich, Alexander, Alexeev, Nikolai, Bromberg, Leslie et al., Low current plasmatron fuel converter having enlarged volume discharges, US patent 7597860
List of Publications [PDF]