Snapshot: Testing Heavyweight Bearings for 10MW Turbines from IWES
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This huge spaceship-looking contraption will be testing the next generation of <span style="color:#E56600;"><strong>wind-turbine bearings</strong></span> as manufacturers press on into double-digit capacities and ever-growing loads.<o:p></o:p>
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The Fraunhofer Institute of Wind Energy Systems (<span style="color:#E56600;"><strong>IWES</strong></span>) has launched its new bench for testing <b style="text-indent:0pt;"><span style="color:#E56600;">wind turbine bearings</span> </b><span style="text-indent:0pt;">at its site in Hamburg, Germany.</span>
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Bearings experience some of the highest loads within a wind turbine, and have a "comparatively high failure rate", IWES says, so rigorous testing of the component is essential to avoid unnecessary and valuable downtime.
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This new bench can test 10-tonne bearings that could be installed in 10MW turbines. Using data analysis to simulate various damage mechanisms, engineers are able to test the resilience of bearings over a full lifecycle in just a few months.
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The institutes also hopes the test bench can be used to help develop the next generation of <strong><span style="color:#E56600;">wind-turbine bearings. </span></strong>
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31 May,2019
