Sentient Science Expanding Life-Extension Technology For Turbines

Sentient Science, a provider of materials science-based life-extension technology, has announced a significant working capital infusion to add new products to its wind turbine operator fleet.

The $17 million investment from Toba Capital will support international expansion, as well as accelerated growth through added sales, marketing and product investments.

According to Ward Thomas, chairman and CEO of Sentient Science, the company’s DigitalClone software “has eliminated the costs and the lengthy process associated with the physical testing of materials, components, systems and fleets.”

The financing supplements $25 million in Small Business Innovation Research funding that Sentient previously won from the Departments of Defense and Energy, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and National Science Foundation.

Sentient initially deployed and validated its computational testing solutions with the Department of Defense. With original equipment manufacturers including GE, Boeing, United Technologies, Textron and Exxon, the company predicted the future behavior of complex machines (bearings, jet engines and gearboxes) on the Air Force F-35, the U.S. Army’s Apache and Black Hawk rotorcraft, and the Marine Corps’ Osprey programsBased on the success of those tests, the Department of Energy requested the use of Sentient’s computational testing solution for problematic wind turbine gearboxes, which were failing prematurely in deployment. Sentient says it turned its attention to the renewables market in late 2014 and, in 15 months, has inked contracts covering more than 14,700 gearboxes in the U.S., Mexico and Europe.

With Toba’s investment, Sentient will expand its operations into more countries in Europe and China.