A wind-turbine gearbox manufacturer has expanded its field-service portfolio to include the inspection and repair of the entire helical side of the gearbox up-tower. Moventas General Manager Steve Casey says its entire process can be performed in just three days, and the company (www.moventas.com) has successfully completed over 20 of these repairs to date.
Moventas says its on-site repair services can replace failing gears and bearings in about three days, and without need for a large boom crane.
“By using a mobile service unit and a small hydraulic crane, we eliminate the costs associated with mobilizing a large boom and secondary cranes normally required to bring a complete gearbox down from the nacelle,” he says. Shipping costs to and from the workshop are also eliminated.
A repair crew from Moventas has removed a gearbox top cover. Standard procedure says the crew is to inspect bearing and gear surfaces along with all interface components and connections.
A Moventas crew drives a self-contained mobile workshop to the wind-turbine site that contains all tools, components, and software required to repair the entire helical side of a gearbox. Each component, including the high-speed pinion and intermediate and low-speed gear assemblies, is lowered into the workshop where it is cleaned, inspected for damage and wear, and replaced as needed. In lieu of workshop-dynamometer testing, all up-tower helical repairs include condition monitoring using the company’s Condition Management System (CMaS). Casey says using CMaS ensures the same quality of repair as those performed in the company workshops. WPE
Filed Under: Gearboxes
