Abstract
Failures in gearbox bearings have been the primary source of reliability issues for wind turbine drivetrains, leading to costly downtime and unplanned maintenance. The most common failure mode is attributed to so-called axial cracks or white-etching cracks, which primarily affect the intermediate and high-speed-stage bearings. The high-speed-shaft and bearing loads and sliding will be measured with a specially instrumented gearbox installed in a 1.5-megawatt turbine at the National Wind Technology Center in an upcoming test campaign. Additional instrumentation will also measure the tribological environment of these bearings, including bearing temperatures, lubricant temperature and water content, air temperature and humidity, and stray electrical current across the bearings. This paper fully describes the instrumentation package and summarizes initial results.
Original language | American English |
---|---|
Number of pages | 35 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2019 |
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/TP-5000-70639
Keywords
- bearing axial cracking
- drivetrain
- gearbox
- high-speed shaft
- NWTC
- wind energy