• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• 제13권5호
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2014

Currently, wind power has become a major research field in the area of sustainable development. As one important component of a wind turbine transmission system, most instances of downtime due to a gearbox failure are caused by bearing failures. Gearboxes for wind turbines must have the highest levels of reliability over a period of approximately 20 years, withstanding high dynamic loads. At the same time, a lightweight design and cost minimization efforts are required. These demands can only be met with a well-thought-out design, high-quality materials, a high production quality and proper maintenance. In order to design a reliable and lightweight gearbox, it is necessary to analyze methods pertaining to the bearing rating lifetimes of the standard and of different companies, also including calculation methods for modification factors. This can determine the influence of the bearing lifetime.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• 제25권2호
• /
• pp.97-104
• /
• 2016

In this study, the qualitative effects of the positional error of carrier pin holes on the planet load sharing characteristics of the three-point suspension gearbox of wind turbines were investigated experimentally. A 35-kW gearbox comprising two planetary gear stages and a parallel gear stage and size one-fourth of that of a 2-MW three-point suspension gearbox was used as the test gearbox. The strain gauges attached to the ring gear teeth of the input planetary gear stage were used for the purpose of this study. The applied loading conditions were 50%, 75%, and 100% of the rated torque, and the mesh load factor was used as the load sharing index. The experimental results indicated that both the magnitude and direction of the positional error of pin holes had a significant effect on the planet load sharing characteristics of the three-point suspension gearbox. In addition, an increase in the applied torque results in uniform load sharing.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• 제25권3호
• /
• pp.237-243
• /
• 2012

The thickness optimization of the gearbox housing for 5MW wind turbine is carried out with the help of the efficient structure analysis model and the approximation model of objective function. Wind turbine gearbox is a complex structural system composed of a number of gear trains, shafts, bearing and gearbox housing, requiring a tremendous number of elements for the structural analysis and design. In this paper, an effective analysis and design model considering the tooth stiffness of helical gears is proposed. It enables to significantly reduce the total element number and the analysis time. Through the numerical optimization of housing thickness making use of the effective gearbox model and the approximate model of objective function, the total weight of the gearbox housing is minimized. It has been observed from the numerical experiment that the approximation model is reliable and the optimization result is acceptable and verified analysis.

• Journal of international Conference on Electrical Machines and Systems
• /
• 제2권4호
• /
• pp.478-485
• /
• 2013

This paper focuses on the design and control of a new concept for wind turbines with a planetary gearbox to realize a power split. This concept, where the generated wind power is split into two parts, is to increase the utilization of the wind power and may be particularly suitable for large scale off-shore wind turbines. In order to reduce the cost of the power electronic devices, a synchronous generator, which is driven by the planetary gear, is directly connected to the power grid without electronic converter. A servo drive, which functions as the control actuator, is connected to the power grid by a power electronic converter. With small scale power electronic device, the current harmonics can also be reduced. The speed of the main shaft is controlled to track the optimal tip speed ratio. Meanwhile the speed of the synchronous generator is controlled to stay at the synchronous speed. The minimum rated power of the servo motor and the converter, is studied and discussed in this paper. Different variants of the wind turbine with a planetary gear are also compared. The controller for optimal tip speed ratio and synchronous speed tracking is given.

• Journal of Wind Energy
• /
• 제10권4호
• /
• pp.20-27
• /
• 2019

High-speed shaft coupling in a wind power system transmits power and absorbs variations in length and spindle dislocation between the gearbox and generator. Furthermore, the coupling has an insulation function that prevents electrical corrosion caused by the flow of the generator's current into the gearbox and prevents overload resulting from sudden power failure from being transferred to the gearbox. Its design, functions, and part verification are described in the IEC61400 and GL Guidelines, which specify that the part must have a durability life of 20 years or longer under distance variation and axial misalignment between the gearbox and the generator. This study presents the design of a high-speed coupling through composite stiffness calculation, structural analysis, and comparative analysis of test and theory to identify the characteristics of high-speed coupling for a large-capacity 6 MW wind power generator. A prototype was fabricated by optimizing the manufacturing process for each part based on the design, and the reliability of the fabricated prototype was verified by evaluating the performance of the target quantitative evaluation items.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국신재생에너지학회 2008년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
• /
• pp.311-314
• /
• 2008

The volume and size of the wind turbine gearbox has been increased with increasing transmitted power. The optimal sizing of gearbox is important due to limited space on the nacelle. The power-split type planetary gear train has been regarded as a better solution than conventional type from the point of view of the volume and weight. The purpose of this paper is to optimize the volume and weight of the gearbox by the analysis of structural characteristics and evaluation of strength of the power-split type planetary gear train.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
• /
• 제12권2호
• /
• pp.142-148
• /
• 2022

In this paper, the weight reduction design of the yaw gearbox for wind turbine was performed through the finite element analysis method, and the stability was checked by performing the critical speed analysis. The weight reduction product can improve engine efficiency, save parts materials, and earn economic benefits. The yaw gearbox is lightweighted with the goal of achieving a safety rate of 1.3 or higher for wind turbine as indicated by IEC61400-1. In order to reduce the weight of the carrier, a topology optimization method was performed. The safety factor was verified by performing finite element analysis on the carrier. In addition, the housing and carrier were modeled using the finite element method, and the gear train was modeled using MASTA. For the yaw gearbox, the housing and carrier FE model and the gear train model were connected by the partial structural synthesis method to perform the rotational vibration analysis. Vibration excitation sources are mass unbalance and gear mesh frrequemcy, and as a result of the critical speed analysis, it was found that there was no resonance within the operating speed range.

• New & Renewable Energy
• /
• 제16권1호
• /
• pp.25-30
• /
• 2020

In this study, an SW for the analysis of the wind-turbine vibration characteristics was developed as an application of SaaS cloud infrastructure. A measurement system for power-performance, mechanical load, and gearbox vibration as type-test class was installed at a target MW-class wind turbine, and structural meta and raw data were then acquired into the cloud. Data processing algorithms were developed to provide cloud data to the SW. To operate the SW continuously, raw data was downloaded consistently based on the algorithms. During the SW test, an intermittent long time-delay occurred due to the communication load associated with frequent access to the cloud. To solve this, a compression service for the target raw data was developed in the cloud and more stable data processing was confirmed. Using the compression service, stable big data processing of wind turbines, including gearbox vibration analysis, is expected.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• 제39권5호
• /
• pp.507-515
• /
• 2015

This study was conducted to develop and verify a torque application device for use in a mechanical power-circulation test rig for 5.5 MW wind turbine gearboxes. The design and analysis of the torque application device was conducted. In addition, the torsional stiffness of the test rig was calculated using the rotational angle measurements for each of the components. The calculated stiffness of the test rig was $231.13kN{\cdot}m/rad$ for a clockwise torque application. The rated torque can be applied when the stiffness of the gearbox is greater than $1,064,400kN{\cdot}m/rad$ for a clockwise torque application. Because of the limited rotational angle of the test rig, the potential application of the rated torque is determined according to the torsional stiffness of the test gearbox.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• 제27권1호
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2007

This paper reveals both the operational situation and the cause of the error occurred in wind turbine generator system of Hangwon wind farm in Jeju island. The four wind turbines were selected for this work, and the monitored period was for six months. Wind resource in the wind farm was analyzed, and the estimated energy production was compared with the actual energy production. As a result, with a decrease of system error, the estimated energy production was in good agreement with the actual energy production. The errors occurring in components such as gearbox and hydraulic motor affected the Availability of the wind turbine. Also, poor external conditions such as a strong wind, lightning and gust caused a standstill of wind turbines.