Gearboxes (or not) for wind turbines from NKE and General Electric
Wind turbines market is growing fast: NKE and General Electric have introduced two different solutions for the same application.
NKE Austria has recently developed a modular system for bearings in planetary gearboxes; It’s based on single-row cylindrical roller bearings of RN range, which do not have an outer ring.
These bearings are equipped with a one-piece solid brass cage guided by the inner ring. The single row bearings can be assembled as sets of 2,3 or 4 bearings to conform to a design’s load and parameters.
The tightly toleranced overall height of each individual bearing and their precise matching ensures an even distribution of radial loads. Each bearing set includes the components required to secure the bearings axially in the planetary gears – such as retaining rings and loose rib rings.
General Electric is focused on the same application, but with something totally different: the american company has recently purchased a company that has developed gearless turbine technology based on magnets.
Gearboxes act as the middleman to convert the slow rotations of wind turbine blades into the faster rotations requested for generators to create electricity. The downside of such gears comes from their high-maintenance requirements due to constant stress from wind turbulence.
The turbine of Norway’s ScanWind connects the rotor shaft directly to the generator. The slower rotational speed gets offset by the presence of magnets that spin around at a larger diameter — and higher speed — to produce more current in the generator coil.
The installation of such generators is more expensive than gearbox turbines; the load is from a 15 to 20 percent heavier. But the future payoff may come from eliminating the repair costs and downtime associated with gearboxes; that’s an important consideration for offshore turbines, whose reach’s not easy.
GE is a wind power giant selling the half of new turbines in US and more than 12.000 turbines worldwide; the company is the second-largest maker of wind turbines. The acquisition of ScanWind is probably oriented to offshore wind farms in Europe, especially given It’s need for more wind power to reach its renewable-energy goals.
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