Line Inspection and Guided Hardware Testing (LIGHT) Lab Development

The LIGHT Lab project will develop and commission a suite of integrated containerized tester modules for testing belts, mooring lines, and umbilical cables for marine energy applications, including those for power take-off (PTO) and mooring lines. The new tester modules are reconfigurable and will be housed in three 40-ft high-cube shipping containers connected end-to-end and side-to-side that are considered part of the module suite. The new tester modules are currently planned to be sited at Sandia Lake Facility Complex a. Locating the LIGHT Lab near the man-made lake at this facility will allow for the new testers to be dual purposed, providing standalone testing for belts, mooring lines and umbilical cables, as well as actuated testing of wave energy devices and components at the lake facility. The LIGHT Lab modules will enable automated short-term and long-term testing to better understand the mechanical properties and technical limitations of not only belt and rope materials, but also EOM umbilical cable assemblies. The LIGHT Lab is currently at the design stage. Development is expected to be completed in Summer 2027, after which it will be made available for industry use.