Products & Services

Torsional Control Products

Extend the life of your Gearbox with WindTC

THE PROBLEM
In all wind turbines, large transient events occur in the drivetrain.  These events include:

• Grid loss / Grid fault
• Emergency stops
• Control malfunctions
• Curtailments
• Wind gusts
• High wind shutdowns
• Generator short circuits
• Generator upshifts & downshifts
• Blade tip deployment
• Resonant vibration

Despite much progress by gearbox manufacturers and bearing suppliers, gears and bearings continue to fail, costing tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair a gearbox prematurely.

THE SOLUTION

The WindTC is an Asymmetrical Torque Control. Asymmetric Torsional Control (ATC) simply means having different torsional characteristics in reverse than in the forward drive direction. The transients are damped before they can allow the drivetrain to torsionally unload. As a torsional “shock absorber” in the system, an asymmetric approach can react almost instantly to reduce the transients.  The wind-up of the system can be reduced, thus preventing high damaging loads.  The addition of an asymmetric device in existing turbines is a major step in extending the life of drive components.

The WindTC™ is the only torque limiter that is effective in mitigating the damaging loads on the wind turbine gearbox from harsh negative torque.  These loads are particularly bad for gearbox bearings in the turbine as the sudden shock loads do not allow time for the rollers to reposition as they accelerate into the load zone.  This can cause skidding and edge loading of the rollers and can cause a damaging impact load on the inner race.  With a Wind TC in the system, reversal loading is reduced to a significantly lower level, allowing for rollers and races to be protected when they are at the highest risk.  Please see our white paper Understanding the Root Causes of Axial Cracking for more detail.

Easily mounted on the shaft between the generator and the turbine motor, using the existing spacer shaft, the WindTC™ significantly cuts transient torque spikes in the negative direction.

Control your shock loads to extend the life of your gearbox.  

Torque Monitoring Service

Prove it to yourself. Learn what's going on in your Gearbox!

Have you ever measured the current torque on your wind turbine's drive train for both FORWARD AND REVERSE TORQUE?  If you don't know the loads that are entering your gearbox, how do you know it is protected or getting damaged?

The WindTM is a service provided by AeroTorque to monitor and record the torque loads in your turbine.  During typical trials, nominal torque data and transient torque event data is recorded for a 3-6 week time period before the equipment is removed.

The WindTM:

•       Mounts on Main shaft

•       Stores 100 worst events in forward and reverse

•       Accurate high-resolution data

The system is capable of measuring and storing the 50 highest positive and the 50 highest negative torque values throughout the logging period.  A second gauge allows for calculations of speed, to allow for an accurate gauge of ambient conditions (acceleration or deceleration) of the turbine at the time of each event.