NREL Gearbox Reliability Collaborative Experimental Data Overview and Analysis: Preprint

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

Most turbines in the market today follow a modular configuration comprised of a main shaft, gearbox, high speed shaft, and generator. The gearbox has the important task of increasing the slow rotor speeds to meet the electromechanical requirements of the electromechanical. These gearboxes are commonly composed of a planetary stage and several parallel shaft stages. The planetary, or epicyclical,design of the gearbox is a feature of the design that has many advantages compared to the traditional parallel shaft arrangement. Among these are that higher gear ratios can be achieved in a single stage, they are capable to carrying higher loads, and they require less space than the traditional parallel shaft arrangement. For this reason, planetary gearboxes are commonly used in the first stageof the wind turbine gearboxes. However, planetary stages are more complex than the typical parallel shaft arrangement, and can be affected by deflection in the planet carrier, annulus deformations and bearing clearances. Unanticipated levels of these motions can reduce their life expectancy. This paper gives a brief overview of a subset of the experimental efforts, data, and analysis of the GRCproject focusing on the planet carrier deformation.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages14
StatePublished - 2010
EventAWEA Windpower 2010 Conference and Exhibition - Dallas, Texas
Duration: 23 May 201026 May 2010

Conference

ConferenceAWEA Windpower 2010 Conference and Exhibition
CityDallas, Texas
Period23/05/1026/05/10

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/CP-500-48232

Keywords

  • elliptical
  • gearboxes
  • parallel shaft gearbox
  • planetary
  • wind turbine

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