Date: 2013-08-01

Analysis Helps Wind Turbine Designers Find Their Bearings

Canton, Ohio, US (October 14,2010) Bearings are a critical component in wind turbine rotor driveshafts, so it pays to optimise their functionality and maximise their lifetimes by comparing the different system configurations and applying proper analysis to reduce wear and tear.

As wind turbine manufactures gain experience with turbine and gearbox designs, they are elevating the need to improve the reliability of drivetrains while employing an architecture that optimises the cost structure of turbines and towers.

Wind turbine generator designs have historically utilised a modular architecture with a generator, gearbox and main shaft. However, several departures from that traditional design approach have emerged with the aim of improving turbine reliability and cost. Two of the most common architectures include direct drive and mid-speed hybrid drive turbines.

A key consideration in turbine design is the selection of the bearing system that is used to support the main shaft. Options include use of a single or multiple bearing position system, including combinations of spherical, cylindrical (CRB) and tapered roller bearings (TRB). Table 1, shown below, lists various main shaft bearing arrangements available based on the turbine drivetrain architecture.



Direct and Hybrid Drives
Significant work is currently being done within the industry to understand real operating loads on turbines, gears, shafts and bearings in the field.
Furthermore, standards have been developed to help the industry design more reliable turbines with improved performance, and yet there is still room for further improvement.

A direct drive turbine that eliminates the gearbox entirely has to meet certain considerations. To be able to generate adequate power at low speeds, generators tend to become larger, heavier and more expensive. One bearing solution has been a three-row CRB design with two axially positioned rows in light preload, and one radial row mounted in clearance.
Figure 1, shown below, illustrates other bearing arrangements such as the unitised two-row TRB, tapered double (TDI) + CRB, and 2 single row TRB (2-TS)

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