PowerBeam™ Wireless Power Transfer

The daily revenue loss resulting from the shutdown of hydroelectric generators can range from $100K to $1M per turbine. In situations where unscheduled turbine maintenance is necessary and replacement parts take a considerable amount of time to arrive, the loss of power generation revenue can be substantial.

To solve this problem, predictive maintenance algorithms utilize data generated from sensors mounted on the rotating hydroelectric generator shafts. These algorithms enable prediction of maintenance events that require turbine shutdown. Accurate prediction allows these maintenance events to be scheduled. With scheduled maintenance, parts and resources can be obtained, and put in place before shutting down the turbine, minimizing lost power generation revenue.

However, the obstacle to implementing these predictive algorithms is the currently available sensor power generation solutions. These solutions are unreliable, requiring frequent maintenance and downtime. In addition to causing their own downtime, these solutions cause shaft sensors to periodically lose power, creating discontinues data input to the algorithm and rendering the predictive maintenance prediction inaccurate.

PowerBeam™ wireless power transfer technology was designed to enable predictive maintenance algorithms and stop lost revenue due to currently available unreliable rotating shaft power sources.