From left, Amy Francetic, Clean Energy Trust; Andrew Kovacs, Bearing Analytics; Jennifer Garson, Department of Energy; Christopher Ochynski, Bearing Analytics; Anurag Garg, Bearing Analytics; Lokesh Gupta, Bearing Analytics; and David Danielson, Department of Energy, pose after Bearing Analytics won the student division of the Clean Energy Trusts 2013 Clean Energy Challenge. The team's business plan promotes patent-pending technology that indicates impending bearing failure better than commercial sensors currently on the market.

The Bearing Analytics team won the student division of the Clean Energy Trust's 2013 Clean Energy Challenge. The team will represent an eight-state region in early summer in the National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Team members Anurag Garg, Lokesh Gupta and Andrew Kovacs are doctoral candidates in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. They are doing doctoral work in the Adaptive Radio Electronics and Sensors group. Christopher Ochynski, a senior in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a first-year student in the Krannert School of Management's MBA program, is the other team member.

Bearing Analytics' patent-pending sensor monitors the performance of bearings and alerts workers to premature bearing failure by measuring temperature and vibration changes. Garg said conventional bearing sensors used to monitor performance are mounted outside the bearing, which limits the ability to determine internal conditions.

"The Purdue-developed technology allows a sensor to be placed directly on the bearing cage, which is the source of temperature and vibration fluctuations," he said. "As a result, it provides a more reliable indicator of impending bearing failure and has a better response time than any commercial sensor available on the market."

Garg said winning the Clean Energy Trust's 2013 Clean Energy Challenge strengthens Bearing Analytics.

"My colleagues and I feel that this Purdue-developed technology has been further validated by winning the 2013 Clean Energy Challenge, one of the most prestigious competitions in the nation. We look forward to competing against and sharing ideas with students from other pre-eminent research universities during the National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition," he said. "We also acknowledge our mentors and advisers who help us prepare for these competitions. We would not have been able to go this far without their work."

About Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology-transfer programs among leading research universities in the United States. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities.