Investigation of Various Wind Turbine Drivetrain Condition Monitoring Techniques

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the causes of premature gearbox failures in wind turbines and recommend improvements to gearbox design, manufacture, and operational practices to improve the reliability of wind turbines.

Abstract: The wind industry has experienced premature turbine component failures during the past years. With the increase in turbine size, these failures, especially those found in the major drivetrain components, i.e. main shaft, gearbox, and generator, have become extremely costly. Given that the gearbox is the most costly component in the drivetrain to fix, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) initiated the Gearbox Reliability Collaborative (GRC) to determine the causes for premature gearbox failures and subsequently, recommend improvements to gearbox design, manufacture, and operational practices. The GRC has two identical test gearboxes, which are planned for a dynamometer and a field test, respectively.