Comparing Replacement Components to Extend the Life of Gearboxes

Comparing Replacement Components to

Extend the Life of Gearboxes

Summary

• What are the Pros and Cons of Uptower replacements and what challenges

do they help solve in the wind industry?

• How does prognostic data help operators set-up proactive uptower and

downtower major component replacement strategies to maximize ROI?

• Case Study: Broadwind DriveMAX Ring Gear Upgrade Comparison

• Q/A

Repairing Replacement Components to Extend the Life of Gearboxes February 24, 2015

• 15+ years of drivetrain,

blade and field service

experience across

numerous platforms

• kW to MW inspection,

test, repair & swap

capabilities

• In-house precision

gearing shop

Harness our expertise across WTG platforms to expand your business



Most Comprehensive Uptower Repair Offerings on the Market

Two Shop Locations

Increase asset life

Increase major component budget

accuracy

Minimize long term maintenance

costs

Eliminate gearbox CapEx

Limit turbine down time

Reduce crane costs

Reduce shipping costs

Less management resources

consumed

Importance of a Healthy Gearbox

Proactive approach = reduces risk

5Repairing Replacement Components to Extend the Life of Gearboxes February 24, 2015

Uptower Shop Rebuild

Assessment

Safety

Cost

Time frame

Cleanliness

Testing

Validation/Quality

Control

Uptower vs. Shop Gearbox Rebuild


Cleanliness Environmental

concerns related to

cleanliness

Proper flush and

break in

Gear and bearing

asperities from

manufacturing


Testing Test stand

2-stage test uptower


Validation/Qualit

y Control CM

Wear Pattern

Oil Analysis

Quality Reporting

Procedures


DigitalClone Live – Site Level

Asset Ranking Default Most-at-Risk, Sortable, Filterable …

Asset Map View Risk Level,

Interactive, Navigable


Component Risk Failure risk ranking down to the component

level for O&M planning (e.g. uptower vs crane)

DigitalClone Live – Component Level


DigitalClone Live – Individual Component Tracking

Individual Component Replacement Tracking Component failure risk

predicted individually as part of the system per installation date


DigitalClone Live – ROI Optimization

ROI Optimization All trade-offs based on ROI at the

individual asset level/group, maximizing ROI for the fleet.Grouping Asset type,

sub-site, region, etc.


Maximize the lifecycle of your drivetrains Inspections & failure mode analysis

Data analysis

Upgrade rebuilt gearboxes

Uptower gearbox remanufacturing

Oil changes, major component exchanges, and

“turn-key” service

14


15

Gearbox Upgrades

15

• Gearing

• Bearings

• Lubrication


Gearbox Upgrades: Gearing

• Geometry

• Heat Treat

• Material


Gear Box Upgrades: Bearings

• Work closely with bearing OEMs on RCAs

• Validate upgraded bearing solution through test and inspections.


Gearbox Upgrades: Lubrication

• Work with OEMs to add lines, flush and clean

• Heat exchangers and plumbing

• Seal upgrades


Broadwind and Sentient Science

Partnership

• In-depth metallurgic

analysis

• Prognostics to validate

the life extension

benefit

• In-depth

understanding of

failure modes based

on inspections and

RCA


Build DigitalClone Prognostic Model


Ring Gear

Ring Gear #1Process: machine and cut teeth, contour induction harden teeth, finish machine and finish grind teeth.

Ring Gear #2Process: machine and cut teeth, carburize and harden, finish machine and finish grind teeth.

DriveMAX Ring Gear #3Process: machine and cut teeth, heat treat, grind teeth, contour induction harden, finish machine and finish grind teeth.

Ring Gear Fatigue Comparison Results

Sentient PredictionsL50 (Years of Operation)

OEMRing Gear

Alt.Ring Gear

DriveMax4340 Ring

Gear

4.72 14.93 37.84

- 3.2x 8x

Fatigue Life Predictions – Load Case 1 – Max. Contact Stress: 1371.2MPa

LEGEND

Ring Gear

#1

Ring Gear

#2

DriveMaxRing Gear


New advanced steels for gearing applications:

Commercially available Ferrium® C61™ and C64®

Typical Alloy

PropertiesYS (ksi)

UTS

(ksi)

Core

Hardness

(HRC)

El (%) RA %

Fracture

Toughness

(ksiin)

Achievable

Surface

Hardness

(HRC)

Tempering

Temperature

(°F)

AISI 8620 121 168 41-48 14 53 53 450

18 Cr-Ni-

Mo-7-6150 200 30-40 13 71 60-63 300-350

Ferrium®

C61225 240 48-50 16 70 130 60-62 900

Ferrium®

C64199 229 48-50 18 75 85 62-64 925

Strength, toughness, and fatigue (axial and single tooth bending) performance upgrades versus existing

gear steels 18 Cr-Ni-Mo-7-6 (standard wind turbine gear material) and AISI 8620

• Being qualified for helicopter transmission gears and rotor shafts; Increased power density

• Used in NASCAR and F-1; Increased component life and durability

C61 steel forward rotor

shaft

New materials should be considered to improve reliability of wind turbine gear boxes


Summary• Sentient allows customers to simulate the Gearbox RUL before and after

component replacement

• There are scenarios where Gearboxes will not have expected extended

life – you want to know before replacement

• Todays its possible to create a prioritized list of all GBXs where up-

component replacement may be a clear lower cost alternative to gearbox

replacement

• The same method can be used to create a watch list for optimized

borescoping schedules

• You can validate the life of existing designs or new designs computationally

• Check with Broadwind direct for uptower component options and services


Engineering

Comparing Replacement Components to Extend the Life of Gearboxes