A Better Way to Protect Generator Bearings

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Excerpt: Although many wind farms in the U.S. are generating electricity and well beyond a testing stage, their debugging continues. Many of these turbines suffer design-related failures within their first few years of operation. Damaged bearings, for instance, can cause generator failures, which lead to …

Clever Bearing and Planetary Drive Carries Greater Load

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Excerpt: Uncontrollable and highly variable wind forces adversely affect the performance and reliability of planetary gears inside wind-turbine power transmissions. A couple developments from The Timken Co., Canton, Ohio, can lower maintenance on rolling elements and carry greater load in a planetary gearset …

Manufacturer for large bearings

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Excerpt: Kaydon Bearings Division can manufacturer bearing to support critical pitch, yaw and gearbox applications in systems from 200 kW to 5.0 MW and above. The company has been producing large-diameter custom bearings for over 60 years and has design and manufacturing experience in many applications. …

Modular bearing for planetary wind turbine gearboxes

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Excerpt: Bearing specialist NKE Austria has developed a modular bearing system for planetary gears in wind turbine gearboxes. The modular concept is based on single-row cylindrical roller bearings of the company’s RN range, which do not have an outer ring. These bearings are equipped with a one-piece solid …

Bearing handles rocking platforms

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Excerpt: A heavy-duty flexible bearing or bushing combines a high-load capacity with an ability to accommodate torsional and angular movements in all planes without lubrication or metal-to-metal wear. The Spherilastik Bearings come in center bore or as a solid member depending on how it’s attached. …

How to Get Turbine Gears and Bearings to (Almost) Talk

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Excerpt: A gear manufacturer recently confided that a turbine OEM was asking for quotes to repair yaw gears that were failing after just five years in service. Although the mystery of the early failure has not yet been resolved, the tale says that despite centuries of experience with gear designs and materia …

Graco helps provide the right lubrication to the right bearing

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Excerpt: A wide range of automatic lubrication products protect wind turbines while they operate. Accurate, reliable, and adjustable lubrication for each lube point keeps critical machinery in the nacelle running at peak performance for increased productivity, lower maintenance costs, and more efficient lubr …

Teeter bearing help wind turbines Sssssssh

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Excerpt: A few early wind turbines in the U.K. drew considerable criticism because they were noisy, So Wind Energy Group Ltd. (WEG) paid more attention to acoustic isolation in the recent MS-3 turbine. The primary noise-attenuation feature was a Metalastik Spherilastik “teeter” bearing from Trellebo …

Cylindrical roller bearing now handles greater loads

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Excerpt: Compared with traditional cylindrical roller bearings for wind-gearboxes, SKF USA, Kulpsville, Pa., says its design carries greater load. SKF high capacity cylindrical roller bearings are improved for higher load ratings, for a higher safety factor, extended service life, and a higher power dens …

High capacity cylindrical-roller bearings for the wind-energy market

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Excerpt: A new high capacity cylindrical-roller bearing, intended for wind energy applications, bridges a gap in bearing performance by combining high-load and high-speed capabilities. The bearings come from NTN Bearing Corp., Mt. Prospect, Ill, which manufactures bearings for turbine OEMs, operations, and m …