Sensatek Propulsion, Inc. has announced an equity investment of $2 million led by Rhapsody Venture Partners of Cambridge, Massachusetts, alongside Cloquet Capital Partners, StarterStudio, VentureWell and others. Sensatek's sensors provide a breakthrough in gas turbine management.
When a turbine blade overheats, the maintenance and downtime costs are immense. Past technology has not allowed for accurate and ongoing monitoring of turbines and requires significant expensive retrofitting. Sensatek’s compact sensors solves these issues.
Sensatek's sensors are applied as a patch or coating on the turbine to provide data continuously and wirelessly, without the need for an external power source or batteries. The accurate and live data enables operators to adjust the gas turbine to operate at optimal levels, and to conduct condition-based maintenance only as needed.
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Sensatek's IP was developed at the University of Central Florida and is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), StarterStudio and VentureWell. The technology commercialization effort was led by Sensatek founder and CEO, Reamonn Soto, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Soto said in a statement, "Our sensors are the product of herculean work by our team over the last five years. In the past twelve months, we have been blessed to receive buy-in from leading companies in our space. With this investment round, we will be able to deliver our sensors to the market at commercial scale. Rhapsody has already proven to be a high value-add investor, having made introductions to their corporate connections from day one."