Abstract
The wind turbine gearbox has the longest downtime among other major turbine components such as blades, generators, and main bearings. Therefore, gearbox manufacturers conduct rig tests to evaluate conformity in terms of design and function. Rig tests, however, have limited similarity compared with atmospheric wind turbine operating conditions. Rig test conditions are thoroughly controlled and maintained by testers and the component certificates of gearboxes issued through the test cannot fulfill wind farm operator's requirements. Hence, certification bodies such as DNV-GL and UL require a mandatory gearbox field test report for type certification. The Korea Energy Agency (KEA) also introduced gearbox field test as a part of the KS type certificate in 2016, although it is optional . In this paper, gearbox field test procedures and requirements are introduced, and the first domestic application case of the test is reported. The field test was conducted with a 1.5 MW wind turbine gearbox located in Jeju as the test object.
