Turbines grow larger, gearboxes become more expensive, complex and their maintenance cost increase. In order to secure reliable operation it will be crucial to monitor the mechanical torque of geared drivetrains during operation to ensure maximum efficiency and avaliablity of wind turbines.
In order to validate GearUp as retrofit and accurate torque and load sharing system a one-year field test campaign was performed with the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and SiemensEnergy at Flatirons campus, Colorado.
The goals of the project were:
- Feasibility of up-tower retrofit installation
- Validation between main-shaft torque and fiber optical solution
- Determine effects of dynamic events
- Determine ablity to withstand wind turbine environment
- 100% system uptime
GearUp 100% working, while the reference had battery and reliability issues and was only 2% of the time working.
- <1% accuracy on main shaft torque
Field validation of accurate real-time torque and load sharing measured during turbine operation
- Easy to retrofit solution
Installation was simple, robust and accurate leading to a cost-effective retrofit solution.
One-year in turbine field validation
The goal of the field test was to prove the technology in field and validated against main shaft torque sensor and generator torque sensors. The installation was on a Siemens Gamesa G97 2 MW Gearbox at the G97 turbine at the NREL Flatirons campus in Colorado US, the end conclusions are:
- Accurate real-time torque and load sharing measured during turbine operation
- 100% sensor system uptime
- Solution is simple, robust and accurate
- Able to measure dynamic torque events contrairy to generator data
Leading to improved gearbox monitoring and reliability of wind turbine energy generation.
