Hello, I’m Moventas’ Senior Engineer and I answer one question a week. To read previous questions and answers, or to ask me one, regarding gearboxes, see the url below.
The Senior Engineer column has been in the wind industry since the 1980’s. The column’s author has spent his entire career in power transmission and knows darn near everything there is to know about gearboxes. In an industry as young as ours, he says, there are false beliefs that he wants to correct. Because all he really wants is the wind industry to work together to lower the cost of wind energy and make renewables the no. 1 global energy source. Here’s just one thought provoking Senior Engineer answer:
Do more bearings in a gearbox make it a better design?
Senior Engineer answers:
Several gearbox models on the market have either three or four roller races on planet gear bearings. These concepts are extremely sensitive to failure due to uneven load distribution between bearings. There is always uncertainty around load sharing when the number of raceways is more than two. This is due to the deformation of the planet gear and for several reasons, such as
- Helix angle deviations
- Profile deviations
- Gear deformation
- Planet-carrier deformation
- Bearing component level deviations
- Gearbox installation and alignment
We (Moventas) have eliminated the problem by using a two-row bearing concept on planet gears, with an integrated outer race of the bearing into the planet gear. This secures an even load distribution between the two bearings, which helps avoid failures.
We provide a bearing upgrade that considerably prolongs your gearbox lifetime before it’s compromised.
The Moventas Senior Engineer answers one question a week. To read previous questions and answers, or to ask one, go here:
http://www.moventas.com/news/articles/senior-engineer-says
Filed Under: Gearboxes, News
