NWTC Joint Industry Megawatt Scale Gearbox Field Tests; NREL Tracking No. 16-007 Award Number: DE-AC36-08GO28308 CX(s) Applied: DOE/EA-1914 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Date: 05/04/2016 Location(s): CO Office(s): Golden Field Of...
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May 4, 2016
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NWTC Joint Industry Megawatt Scale Gearbox Field Tests; NREL Tracking No. 16-007
Award Number: DE-AC36-08GO28308
CX(s) Applied: DOE/EA-1914
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Date: 05/04/2016
Location(s): CO
Office(s): Golden Field Office
BroadWind Energy and National Renewable Energy laboratory (NREL) researchers at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) are proposing a collaboration to investigate axial bearing failures inside BroadWind gearboxes. The purpose of this project is to gather gearbox load data while the gearbox is installed in an operating nacelle.
Monitoring devices would be produced by NREL researchers and installed in a new BroadWind gearbox. A crane would then be used to remove the existing gearbox from the 1.5MW GE turbine located at NWTC Site 4.0 and install the new BroadWind gearbox. This gearbox exchange is a standard maintenance practice at a wind farm and typically takes two workdays. The BroadWind gearbox and monitoring equipment would operate for up to one year. Removal of the tested gearbox components would occur at the end of the monitoring period and those components would be replaced with new components.