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The nonlinear effects of flexible pins on wind turbine gearboxes

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Abstract

The structure of flexible pin-type planetary gear systems used in wind turbine gearboxes can improve the load sharing ability of planets while saving space unlike straddle-type carriers. However, the nonlinear dynamic characteristic of this type of system is not fully developed. This work presents a coupled lumped-parameter dynamic model to demonstrate nonlinear effects. Gear contact loss nonlinearity and bearing clearance nonlinearity are integrated into this dynamical model, and the effects of flexible pins on the nonlinear dynamic responses are discussed. The conclusions made are as follows: lower flexible pin stiffness can significantly reduce nonlinear effects; when pin stiffness is increased, contact loss still occurs in positions of strong vibration even if the planet gear bearings have higher orders of magnitude of tangential load in the wind turbine gearbox; dynamic response peaks are asymmetric with a frequency sweep; only left oblique "Soft" jumps occur, and the right oblique “Hard” jump phenomena rarely occur; planet gear supporting the bearing clearance exists; and vibration chaos occurs in positions of strong vibration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechatronics and Automotive Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, 400074, China

    Xiangyang Xu, Shaojiang Dong, Jiayuan Luo & Tianhong Luo

Authors
  1. Xiangyang Xu
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  2. Shaojiang Dong
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  3. Jiayuan Luo
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  4. Tianhong Luo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiangyang Xu.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Cheolung Cheong

Xiangyang Xu received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China, in 2004. He then received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Chongqing University, Chongqing, China, in 2009 and 2012, respectively. He has been an Associate Professor at Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, China, since 2013. His research interests include mechanical transmission theory and its experiments and applications.

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Xu, X., Dong, S., Luo, J. et al. The nonlinear effects of flexible pins on wind turbine gearboxes. J Mech Sci Technol 29, 3077–3082 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-0705-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-0705-x

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