The University of Wyoming College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) has partnered with LogiLube, a technology company based in Wyoming, on a senior design project to bolster student experience.
The company secured many developments with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Winergy at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) in Golden, Colorado.
Led by UW Mechanical Engineering Professor of Practice Lawrence Willey, engineering students will have access to real-world wind energy problems and work with LogiLube staff on a variety of projects. Willey is also in the advisory board for LogiLube.
“I was contacted by the LogiLube CEO, Bill Gillette, who had noticed my analysis, and having been in the wind industry the relationship struck,” Willey said. “And as I was preparing for my fall classes the idea came up to team with them on some projects because they are right here locally and they want to grow. A lot of their staff are also UW alumni, so it was kind of a beautiful marriage.”
LogiLube is a Wyoming-based technology company focused on big data predictive analytics and machine learning in the field of intelligent machine health. Its initial target market includes wind energy, oil and gas midstream, natural gas compression and transmission.
The company also focuses on predictive data analytic solutions for the oil and natural gas compression industry. They developed SmartGear™, a patented real-time oil condition monitoring technology and SmartOil™, which is a machine-mounted oil condition monitoring system focused on oil and gas applications. The firm also recently launched the SmartLab™ Mobile App, designed for wind turbine service applications.
“We are excited to have the UW engineering students work with our team to innovate a safer and more reliable way to autonomously collect physical samples of lube oil from the wind turbine gearbox,” LogiLube founder and CEO Bill Gillette said. “These oil samples, when collected during the operation of a spinning wind turbine rotor, provide the ‘smoking gun’ evidence for an issue that, if left unattended for months on end, could lead to a drivetrain system failure.”
Currently, the oil-sampling method employed by the wind energy industry is to send a two-man team up the tower to collect samples from a gearbox atop the turbine, which can be 250 feet or more off the ground. This practice put workers in harm’s way and is costly from a labor perspective. The senior design teams aim to find a new way to accomplish the same goal.
“I think the opportunity is very important, because it not only provides real world experience but also this entrepreneurial, new breaking edge technology and this big data, or analytics in this case,” Willey said. “You will be able to assess your equipment and all this big machinery in terms of the operations and how it is resulting in different parameters within the oil.”
Internships are a building experience for students to learn and grow, also giving confidence to their employers that they have knowledge on the work field.
“LogiLube takes a team of students and they get to go over to their office and sit with these real engineers, interact with them and work in their environment,” Willey said. “Also, the company itself wants to grow so they’re looking for more employees, so this is kind of a try before you buy. It is a great opportunity for our seniors here to secure a job for the future.”
Akriti Subedi, a UW engineering student, said, “I am pretty excited for this internship, I think this is a great opportunity that is given to us.”
