ORPC Tests Its Bearing System at UMaine

Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) has completed full-scale testing of a specialized, water-lubricated bearing system and associated drive line components designed for underwater systems that capture energy from ocean tides and river currents.

The testing was conducted at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center.

“This is a first step in solving technical challenges we had with past generation designs,” said Chris Sauer, ORPC co-founder and CEO. “We successfully collected several hundred hours of high-resolution data that verified our specialized bearing performed as expected. We look forward to further analyzing the results.”

ORPC worked with the UMaine Composites Center because of its well-equipped testing facility and skilled personnel, the company said.

“We were extremely pleased to conduct an extensive test program on ORPC’s bearing system and components in our laboratory, part of our ongoing mission to serve Maine through research and development,” said Habib Dagher, executive director of the UMaine Composites Center.

This is the first phase of ORPC’s project, ‘Power Take-off System for Marine Renewable Devices’, which is based on work supported by the Department of Energy.

Future phases of the project will center on development of a highly rugged electrical generator to reduce failure rates.