Abstract
We evaluated the performance and fatigue life of a pitch bearing for multi-megawatt wind turbine. The test pitch bearing was a fourpoint contact ball bearing of internal-gear type designed to meet all specifications required for wind turbine pitch bearings. The tests used a test rig capable of reproducing the operational environment of pitch bearings, and the test items were selected on the basis of the actual operational conditions of the pitch bearing: a performance test to investigate friction torque and stiffness characteristics under extreme loads, and a fatigue life test to investigate friction torque and raceway surface temperature characteristics under fatigue loads.
As test results, the friction torque of the pitch bearing was within the theoretically expected range, and stiffness characteristics also coincided well with the known trend for ball bearings. In addition, the raceway surface temperature barely changed in the operational temperature range; thus, it can be concluded that the pitch bearing has worked satisfactorily without losing its functionality under the regulated extreme and fatigue loading conditions.
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Recommended by Associate Editor Moon Ki Kim
Jeong Woo Han received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Inha University, Korea, in 1992 and 1994, respectively. His Ph.D. in Mechanical Design Engineering is from Chungnam National University, Korea, in 2005. He is currently a principal researcher at the Dept. of System Reliability of KIMM. His research interests are in structural safety and experimental fatigue strength assessment.
Young Jun Park has been working at Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM) in Daejeon, Korea, since 2006. He is interested in design and analysis of gearboxes and bearings for wind turbine and construction equipment. He received a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Machinery Engineering from Seoul National University, Korea.
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Han, J.W., Nam, J.S., Park, Y.J. et al. An experimental study on the performance and fatigue life of pitch bearing for wind turbine. J Mech Sci Technol 29, 1963–1971 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-0417-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-0417-2