Egypt’s Aly El Shafei is among the top 10 nominees who will be competing for The African Innovation Foundation (AIF)’s 2017 Innovation Prize for Africa, which will be awarded in Ghana on 18 July. El Shafei presented the Smart Electro-Mechanical Actuator Journal Integrated Bearing (SEMAJIB), a patented innovation that is designed to be used to support energy generating turbines and can be used to improve efficiency and reduce costs of generating energy in Africa. SEMAJIB is “a smart bearing which is versatile and can change its characteristics as it operates. It consists of a magnetic bearing imbedded in an oil-filled journal bearing, thus forming the smart controllable bearing. The flooding of the bearing with oil is a game changer as the purpose of bearings has traditionally been to expel oil. There is a significant improvement in turbine performance using the SEMAJIB particularly in single line combined cycle plants, as well as conventional generator technology.” The winner of the award’s grand prize receives USD 100k.

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