DigitalClone Life Models fuse materials science with data science
Nov. 27, 2017 – Sentient Science, based out of New York, leads digitalization strategies for wind turbine owners and operators’ around the globe with key partners in North America, Europe and China.
Different than any other data science-only solution on the market, Sentient Science’s cloud- based software, DigitalClone®, combines materials science and data science to create digital life models of wind turbines, major systems and subcomponents. Today, Sentient is monitoring more than 22,000 wind turbines globally and is well on its way to monitoring more than 100,000 wind assets by 2019.
“Because we apply materials science, physics, tribology and data science to our models, we know that the bill of materials within major systems and subcomponents have different failure rates based on the materials and manufacturing processes used by the same vendors in di erent geographical locations around the world,” said Ward Thomas, CEO & President of Sentient Science. “Together with our operator customers, we discovered that when the operator controls which subcomponents are used within the systems of their wind turbines, they can achieve life extension and gain better control of their cost of energy.”
Sentient Science works with owners, operators and suppliers to predict the true life of wind turbines and aftermarket parts through materials science-based digitalization. The digital bill of materials provided in the software tells the operator and the supplier the true life of the turbine, system and subcomponents, which dictates actions that need to be taken to mitigate failures and enable life extension.”
“We’ve created a marketplace for these actions, which impacts several areas of an organization,” said Thomas. “For owners and operators, our software helps them achieve up to 13% savings on their cost of energy. The life data we provide goes beyond the operations and maintenance actions that come from turbines running with damage. The true value of the software comes with the longer-term predictions. For instance, when an owner knows how many spare parts they’ll need and roughly when, they can eliminate inventory and carrying costs. For assets that are healthy, insurance and warranty risks can be reduced because the data shows that the cost of those healthy wind turbines will be much lower than problematic ones.”
Sentient has added suppliers and Original Equipment Manufacturers to the software, so that through digitalization, supply chain optimization can occur.
“We’re helping suppliers improve their pro t margins through the digital bill of materials,” Thomas said. “They leverage direct relationships with the operators purchasing aftermarket parts and services based on life. In addition, OEMs and suppliers can computationally test new product designs and enhancements at reduced cost and time to production, proving the life of their product o erings to the market within DigitalClone.”
A new product release will be announced in early 2018.