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HAMBURG/HERZOGENAURACH/SCHWEINFURT, May 13, 2004. The development of new wind turbines leads to new challenges for this industry: Rolling bearings must withstand highly dynamic loads and operating conditions, not all of which have been fully researched. INA and FAG engineers are performing basic work here and develop new solutions with their customers.
Rotor bearing supports
In many cases, the rotor is supported by two bearings: in the form of a classic locating/non-locating bearing support, as a bearing support requiring adjustment or as a "non-locating bearing" with a bearing in the three-point support aided by the gearbox. The input shaft bearing of the gearbox is often used as a non-locating bearing for the rotor. INA's and FAG's range of catalog products is so extensive that it covers the majority of all applications. Suitable bearings are designed and manufactured in close cooperation with the customer, for instance in cases where the rotor bearing supports are completely connected to the gearbox. Multi-MW equipment for offshore applications use rotor bearing units from two large rows of bearings with relatively little distance between them. In a 3-MW plant, the outside diameter of such bearings can be more than two meters. However, integrating rotor and gearbox bearings allows short section heights.
The housing for the bearing supports was also designed by FAG. FEA calculations ensure that forces and moments are supported in an optimum way and using as little material as possible. Lubricants, seals and other accessories are also supplied from a single source. In this way, all components are integrated in the complete bearing supports system without any problems. Our goal is to follow a product development process with our customers that considers all important aspects of an application in order to increase equipment availability.
Gearbox bearing supports
Rolling bearings in the gearbox, usually cylindrical roller bearings, connect shafts, gears and housings. Any failure in the interaction of these components results in rolling bearing damage. Even minor changes can be recorded and diagnosed by the monitoring services supplied by F'IS (FAG Industrial Services) - long before the actual damage occurs. This makes it possible to plan for maintenance work ahead of time.
Condition monitoring meets the special requirements of the wind power industry. Operating conditions for rolling bearings in wind turbine gearboxes are not comparable to those in stationary gearboxes. In wind turbines, highly dynamic effects can occur that include extreme peak loads, heavy load changes, weak loads with long time periods and extreme temperature fluctuations. Rolling bearings are exposed to wind load dynamics from the rotor and to the dynamics of the electrical network.
The deformation of the gearbox housing places an additional load on the bearings. Peak loads are also a result of fast braking operations using high speed brakes. Recently developed simulation calculations for the cynamic behavior of the driveline will lead to complete load factors and complement previous factors from analogies and measurements.
Condition monitoring for bearings
Monitoring vibrations in wind turbine bearings allows operators to prevent unplanned downtimes, detect damage at an early stage and watch damage progress. Emergency shutdowns are initiated for predefined conditions, thus preventing subsequent damage. Service and maintenance can be planned. Remote monitoring and online data transmission are state of the art at F'IS and are especially attractive for offshore facilities that are not accessible for months at a time. Costs for hardware and monitoring by FIS specialists are only a fraction of the costs of a damaged gearbox - not to mention unplanned machine downtime. The Wind Turbine Protection System - or WiPro for short - is one of just a few condition monitoring systems that meet the requirements listed by Allianz Zentrum f
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| CRH30VBR IKO | 47.625 | 27.4 | |
| CRH28VUUR IKO | 44.45 | 27.4 |