NEWS

<p> This huge spaceship-looking contraption will be testing the next generation of wind-turbine bearings as manufacturers press on into double-digit capacities and ever-growing loads </p> <p> <img src="http://www.bearing.com.cn/membcentre/editor/attached/image/20190604/20190604143634_94012.jpg" alt="" /> </p> The Fraunhofer Institute of Wind Energy Systems (IWES) has launched its new bench for testing wind turbine bearings at its site in Hamburg, Germany.<br /> <br /> 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.<br /> <br /> 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.<br /> <br /> The institutes also hopes the test bench can be used to help develop the next generation of wind-turbine bearings.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Fraunhofer IWES