If you plan to create components that shape the future of renewable energy or already do, wind turbine gearbox design is an excellent focus area. This part increases the blades’ rotational speed, increasing the overall output. It is inside the drivetrain, which also contains the generator. Together, they enable consistent performance. Designers and other clean power professionals collaborate to prevent wind turbine gearbox failure and achieve additional desirable results.
Succeeding makes this type of renewable energy more reliable, helping decision-makers embrace it. Which steps minimize the costliness and inconvenience of unintended downtime?
Use Specialized Software to Compare Options
Internal and external factors cause gearbox failures. For example, bearings are among the most problematic parts, but sufficient lubrication reduces that outcome. Unfortunately, lubricant contamination can cancel out the benefits, even if technicians apply the product often enough.
Additionally, wind turbulence increases mechanical stresses, causing excessive wear. However, those aspects differ depending on the installation location. Whereas offshore turbines encounter stronger and more frequent gusts, terrain-related fluctuations often affect their counterparts.
Thorough planning for environmental and other factors assists designers in compensating for these challenges. Detailed comparisons between drivetrain types help them make appropriate gearbox decisions. In one case, researchers used software to find 30 unique design considerations for offshore wind turbines. They pinpointed drivetrains in their work, designing three relevant technologies at powers ranging from 15 to 25 megawatts. These examinations concerned both fixed-bottom and floating-platform bases.
One finding was that coupling a medium-speed gearbox to a permanent-magnet synchronous generator resulted in the lowest levelized energy cost, resulting in improvements of up to 7% compared to direct-drive configurations, which are more common. The researchers cautioned that such an outcome would only occur if the gearbox did not significantly increase overall maintenance costs.
This work investigated design-related changes, but parties seeking to optimize wind turbine lifespans can consider sensors equipped with predictive maintenance algorithms. Executives deploy these products to monitor manufacturing plants and smart cities, highlighting their versatility.
The researchers also clarified that they only assessed different designs via software and did not build prototypes. Seeing the possibilities in physical forms may reveal new challenges. Even so, specialty tools can eliminate all or most unfeasible options, emphasizing which to develop further.
Shape Wind Turbine Gearbox Design Decisions With Simulations
Many design professionals are increasingly interested in tools that can realistically simulate real-world conditions. Then, they can accommodate the challenges most likely to cause failures. That proactive attention keeps wind turbines and their gearboxes performing well for longer.
Simplicity is often the best option when prioritizing reliability. Steam turbines have comparatively simpler designs than their gas counterparts. Wind-powered ones work differently than either, using aerodynamic forces from the rotor blades to turn kinetic energy into electricity. However, when designers want to push the boundaries rather than sticking to simple, dependable solutions, simulation tools help them determine which tweaks will achieve their goals.
In one case, employees from a wind turbine gearbox manufacturer and design company took a problem-solving approach to excessive heat in the gear mesh contacts and bearings. This warmth builds up due to the high-speed rotation and complex dynamic loads.
Steps to prevent wind turbine gearbox failure caused by high temperatures may involve simulations to confirm root causes and investigate opportunities for integrating technologies for better thermal management. The engineers used a thermo-fluid simulation tool to determine the best places to put cooling and lubrication networks in gearboxes. This is usually a long process because some channels have thousands of small components that can potentially cause pressure losses.
The design team previously used spreadsheets to calculate flow rates and pressures affecting gearboxes. However, the simulation tool substantially accelerates the process, allowing users to validate test data by comparing it with measurement devices installed in the real world.
Additionally, this product has built-in empirical data and sample systems to help engineers find the best options. Such information saves time, especially for those newer to the field.
Assess Fatigue Points in Wind Turbine Gearbox Design Options
All products are highly likely to fail when designer professionals do not identify and account for aspects that will cause stress during real-world usage. Wind turbines remain exposed to the elements, and installers often place them in difficult-to-reach areas. Designers must consider that technicians may not immediately recognize excessive wear due to these realities.
Finding the causes of it in gearboxes and other parts can lengthen wind turbine longevity and prevent expensive downtime. Additionally, emerging technologies give engineers and designers more ways to monitor renewable power equipment in real settings or controlled environments to confirm why failures happen.
One research team proposed an online monitoring system centered on a digital twin. They built it to analyze vibrations and associated fatigue damage linked to the gear tooth surface durability. This tool also ingests information about real-time dynamic loads, allowing the model to make reliable estimates for gear and bearing longevity.
Because the digital twin assessed factors such as the gear rotation speed, contact-based stress on each tooth and irregular loads, it could provide designers with lots of valuable information to reduce breakdowns. When conducting their real-world testing, researchers chose a wind turbine that had operated for 11 years. The results allowed them to measure the cumulative wear since installation, including the likely time frame in which it would cross a threshold and require repair.
Combining this solution with other monitoring mechanisms could keep designers aware of why wind turbine gearboxes fail, making them more proactive and responsive. Videoscopes inserted into bearing roller gaps allow people to inspect surfaces and the internal and external recesses remotely. Assessing the size and severity of imperfections to see how those flaws change over time lets inspectors address issues before they cause breakdowns.
Improve Wind Turbine Gearbox Design Decisions With Technology
Remaining open to using new tech solutions allows designers to develop reliable gearboxes by addressing the leading causes of failure. Because many specialized tools function in the cloud, they enable better collaboration across time zones and geographic separation. Additionally, technology saves money and effort by eliminating the possibilities least likely to work in real life while encouraging professionals to push the boundaries and innovate.