Sentient Science recently met with the top Chinese bearing companies at the China International Bearing Industry Exhibition 2016 to introduce a material science-based technology that can help in the development of high-end bearing products, in addition to identifying market entry opportunities within wind turbine operator networks around the world.
In 2015, China produced 22 billion sets of bearings, which accounted for approximately 24% of the global bearing production, according to ReportLinker, May 2016 edition. The output is expected to be 100.5 billion sets with a year-on-year growth of 10.9% in 2016, and exceed 150 billion sets by 2020. Chinese policies have been introduced that encourage the development of high-end bearing products during the Thirteenth Five-year Plan period. China bearings are mainly used in the automotive, wind power and rail markets.
Sentient Science’s DigitalClone technology is used by Chinese bearing producers to design new products. DigitalClone allows the designer to computationally test the design parameters using a material science-based approach to predict the life of the bearing product. The engineering designer uses the tool to simulate trade off and sensitivity studies virtually, ensuring optimal design before the physical test phase of commercialization.
Bearing companies that partner with Sentient Science have an opportunity for entrance into wind turbine operator networks. Sentient Science works with many large wind turbine operators around the world to monitor the short and long-term health of their power generating assets. Sentient provides the operator and supplier with multiyear forecasts of when and where uptower and downtower component replacements will be needed for life extension. Sentient is expected to be contracted for 20,000 wind turbines by the end of the year, tracking the health of 300,000 bearings in the field, which will grow to 1.025 million bearings by 2020.
For more information, Sentient Science will be at China Windpower 2016 this week in Beijing. Schedule a meeting with the executive team or request a demo.