According to the experience of wind power development in earlier countries and regions, generally after 3-5 years of operation, the transmission machinery part of the wind turbine started to enter a period of multiple failures, and key components such as gear boxes began to have different levels of problems.
This paper gives a detailed introduction and explanation of the key components of the blower, and also the parts with higher failure rate—the gear box, the various pollutions and hazards of the lubricating oil, and proposes a simple, economic and effective control solution. The plan can be used as a reference for power generation companies and equipment manufacturers to improve the utilization of power generation equipment and reduce downtime, maintenance and repair costs.
1. About Wind Turbine Gearboxes Lubrication Gearboxes are the main drive components of wind turbines and are used to increase the speed of the impeller.
At present, the main manufacturers of wind power generation speed gearboxes are Winergy, Hansen, Moventas, etc. Our national manufacturers are Nanjing High Speed Gearbox Factory, Chongqing Gearbox Factory, and Dalian Heavy Industries Geareducer Factory.
As wind turbines are installed in remote, open and windy areas, such as Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and coastal areas in China, the working environment of speed-increasing gearboxes is high and low temperature, high humidity, and the fans are in relatively remote areas. The cost of repair or replacement is huge, so the design requires that the gearbox must have extremely high operating stability and reliability. Particles, moisture and oxidation products and other contaminants have great harm to the oil and the equipment itself, which will greatly increase the risk of gear and bearing fatigue and wear failure.
Once the gearbox needs to be repaired or replaced, its maintenance and accessories are expensive, plus the use of large equipment, and the loss of power generated by inestimable downtime, the cost for both the OEM and the owner can be quite astonishing.
2. Main pollution of wind turbine gear lubricants: including particulates, water, and oxidizing pollutants. The AGMA (American Gearbox Manufacturers Association) and ISO/IEC (International Standards Committee/International Electrotechnical Commission) standards also have the same requirements for wind turbine gearbox lubricants.
In general, an on-line filter is attached to the on-line lubrication system of the fan gearbox. The filter usually has a filtering accuracy of 10-50μm. In fact, while the in-line filter protects the lubrication system and functions as a clean oil system, it has not been able to completely satisfy the fan gearbox’s cleanliness of lubricants based on years of wind farm owner experience and sampling tests. Degree requirements and related standards. A large number of tiny particles cannot be effectively removed, which is a potential threat to demanding fan gearboxes.
A few years ago, users of wind farms in Europe came to this conclusion: “After observing more than 1,000 wind turbine gears in the past decade, it has been found that these gearbox problems are partly caused by pitting and gearing of tooth surfaces. The wear of the bearing.
I have seen gearbox roller bearings have rough surfaces. Unfortunately, the roller has become that way and the gearbox still has not stopped. Of course, it is acknowledged that clean oil is critical to the life of the bearing. However, the problem is that most wind turbine manufacturers do not have a good-quality cleaner to clean the gearbox oil when selling their wind turbines. “This year, similar problems have also been found in China’s operating wind turbines.
A sample of oil samples from a wind turbine generator gear box in a wind farm in Gansu Province showed that after running for about two years, the pollution of the oil system was serious, and the tester also gave suggestions for oil changes. In fact, if the pollution is properly controlled, it can generally be changed in 3 years or longer. If you do not change the oil, it will actually cause damage to the gearbox. According to the experiment and statistics of a third-party consultancy (Noria Corporation), the degree of pollution is reduced, and the impact on the life of the gearbox can reach 3-5 times.