During an annual check-up, wind techs found a broken tooth on a pinion and decided to call in a specialist for a second opinion. After an endoscopic inspection of the Acciona turbine on the Waubra wind farm in Australia, technicians from repair service Moventas (www.moventas.com) agreed that the tooth and its pinion had to come out. They also concluded that the damaged gearbox could be repaired up tower by replacing the high-speed shaft, intermediate shaft, and bearings. The turbine owner approved the procedure.
Pinions, bearings, and shafts are prepared in a wind farm facility prior to reassembly uptower in the ailing wind turbine gearbox.
Moventas techs then ordered the needed parts from Finland, which were sent by airfreight to ensure they were available as soon as possible. When the weather allowed, Moventas mobilized to carry out the repairs. Field-service employee Chris Herbert performed the operation assisted by personnel from the windfarm.
Acciona personnel prepared the turbine prior to Hebert’s arriving on site by removing the coupling, brake disc, caliper, and got the turbine ready to remove the roof. On day one, Hebert assembled the intermediate shaft and high-speed shaft including the installation of the bearings in an Acciona workshop. He then proceeded to the turbine to ensure everything was ready for the next day’s lift.
On day two, with the crane on site, the roof was removed first thing in the morning and the gear unit repair was carried out. The weather provided perfect conditions to carry out the task. Hebert managed to complete the work so the roof could be reinstalled the same day to minimize the customer’s crane cost.
On day three, the turbine was reassembled and the gearbox run under load. No issues surfaced.
The up-tower operation went as planned and the turbine made a complete recovery. Moventas managed to carry out the task without delays in a prescribed three-day process. Acciona was pleased with the outcome because their turbine was not ailing for a long period. The company further impressed the wind farm with the final bill for the operation because the crane cost was kept to a minimum and they did not have to remove the gear box from the tower. This repair is still operating in the tower and has no further issues. At last contact, the OEM was impressed enough to have carried out two similar operations. WPE
Filed Under: Gearboxes, News
