New prognostic service will provide remaining useful life and life extension control for the GE 1.5 gearbox, main bearing and pitch systems

Buffalo, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 08/05/2015 --Sentient Science today announced immediate availability of its flagship DigitalClone Live (DCL) Software as a Service (SaaS) for both owner/operators of GE wind turbines and component suppliers of the GE gearboxes. The software will be provided worldwide in conjunction with a series of 13 customer installations throughout North America with a combined GE 1.5 fleet of 7675 gearboxes. After providing over $20 million in value to customers of its DigitalClone Live for Clipper wind turbines, the launch of DigitalClone Live for GE wind turbine owners and suppliers will address the largest portion of the U.S. installed wind turbine fleet. The GE wind turbine is installed with gearboxes from a series of OEM suppliers and Sentient will deliver lifing solutions across the gearbox variations.

DigitalClone Live provides decision support for operations professionals by predicting the "as is" remaining useful life of a gearbox. DigitalClone Live can also simulate and evaluate the lifing outcomes of O&M options such as up-tower component replacements, uprating or derating the gearbox, oil and additive solutions, and other options to extend gearbox life. For the first time operators can prioritize critical maintenance functions and plan capital expenditures over a much longer horizon, lowering their levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and making their fleets more profitable. Contracts for DigitalClone Live are now in place for nearly 20% of the North American wind fleet.

"The GE fleet is the largest wind turbine fleet in North America," said Ward Thomas, CEO of Sentient Science. "Our owner/operator customers requested a roll out strategy that would include all models of wind turbines in their fleets, beginning with the largest installed segment – the GE base. This solution will help double the life of the U.S. GE gearbox fleet by adding decades of additional service and output of these machines."

DigitalClone Live for GE 1.5 Suppliers

With the launch of DigitalClone Live, suppliers will also gain access to a computational model of the GE 1.5 gearbox to run testing evaluations on their components and services and to assess the impact on gearbox life. Suppliers expect to use this service to create the performance reports needed to engage owners/operators for new products and services. Continued Mr. Thomas, "We are constantly testing our customers fielded assets every day, all day, all year; 50,000 bearings, 225,000 gears, and 7,675 oil tests are being simulated providing performance information to owners and operators. We're now making that computational testing environment available to our operator's supplier community, to create optimal life outcomes for the GE 1.5 owners. Ultimately by empowering the operator with their supplier component life data, they will marry the right components with the right assets, creating super configurations of the GE 1.5 gearbox to extend its life and lower the ongoing O&M costs."

About Sentient Science
Sentient Science, headquartered in Buffalo, NY, provides computational performance product testing, life extension, remanufacturing, risk reduction and supply chain services to increase the remaining useful life of industrial assets in power generation and defense markets. For the first time, Sentient Science is able to calculate the point in time when critical components and systems will begin to fail and make recommendations to extend the life of these components, systems and assets, creating enormous financial value for its customers buy reducing operations and maintenance (O&M) costs. In June 2014, the White House honored Sentient Science with the SBIR/STTR Tibbetts Award for their DigitalClone multi-physics prognostic modeling simulator, which is now available commercially.

DigitalClone is a registered trademark of Sentient Science Corporation.