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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

GE 1.5 ESS Wind Turbine Retrofit Controller Development (CRADA Final Report)

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Bachmann electronic corp. will collaborate on the development of a software application to be used on an existing aftermarket Bachmann controller, utilizing and existing Bachmann software platform, which will be used on the General Electric (GE) 1.5 ESS wind turbine. This retrofit will significantly enhance NREL’s ability to control experiments it is planning to conduct on the GE 1.5 wind turbine as part of the Gearbox Reliability Collaborative, Atmosphere to Electrons and other future R&D. The proposed work is leveraging ongoing Department of Energy (DOE) Annual Operating Plan activities on the GE 1.5 ESS wind turbine at the National Wind Technology Center.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Wind Turbine Gearbox Condition Monitoring Vibration Analysis Benchmarking Datasets

Wind turbine condition monitoring (CM) can potentially help the wind industry reduce turbine downtime and operation and maintenance (O&M) cost. NREL CM research has investigated various condition-monitoring techniques such as acoustic emission (AE specifically stress wave), vibration, electrical signature, lubricant and debris monitoring based on the Gearbox Reliability Collaborative dynamometer and field tests, and other test turbines and resources accessible by NREL. During the past several years, NREL CM research has shown that there are very few validation and verification efforts on commercial wind turbine CM systems. One of the reasons might be limited benchmarking datasets accessible by stakeholders. To fill this gap, NREL executed a data collection effort. The targeted users of these datasets include those investigating vibration-based wind turbine CM research, evaluating commercially available vibration-based CM systems, or testing prototyped vibration-based CM systems. NREL collected data from a healthy and a damaged gearbox of the same design tested by the GRC. Vibration data were collected by accelerometers along with high-speed shaft RPM signals during the dynamometer testing. The healthy gearbox was only tested in the dynamometer. The damaged gearbox was first tested in the dynamometer and later sent to a wind farm close to NREL for field testing. In the field test, it experienced two loss-of-oil events that damaged its internal bearings and gear elements. The gearbox was brought back to NREL and it was retested in the dynamometer with CM systems deployed under controlled loading conditions that would not cause catastrophic failure of the gearbox. The objective of releasing these datasets to the public along with information about the real damage that occurred to the damaged gearbox is to provide the wind industry with some benchmarking datasets. These datasets will benefit research, development, validation, verification, and advancement of vibration-based wind condition-monitoring techniques. By accessing this data you acknowledge the terms outlined in the "License Information" document. Please contract Shawn Sheng (NREL) if you have any questions on the data or would like to collaborate on publications based on the datasets.

Array↗
DOE OSTI2020

Advanced Wind Turbine Drivetrain Topology for Improving System Reliability (CRADA CRD-10-400 Final Report)

Alstom Power has a desire to locate its latest entrance into the U.S. market at a location that truly tests the durability of the machine in a turbulent environment as well as verify the basic operating characteristics of the machine on a 60 Hz grid. The DOE/NREL National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) is well suited for this goal. The DOE/NREL Wind Program is working on improving drivetrain reliability through its Gearbox Reliability Collaborative (GRC). Alstom is also interested in performing research on their innovative drivetrain that is aligned with the objectives of the GRC. The tasks outlined in this Joint Work Statement are intended to accomplish these goals to the mutual satisfaction of both parties and the advancement of the understanding of wind turbine drivetrain behavior.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Gaining Insights in Loading Events for Wind Turbine Drivetrain Prognostics

Wind energy is one of the largest sources of renewable energy in the world. To further reduce the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs of wind farms, it is essential to be able to accurately pinpoint the root causes of different failure modes of interest. An example of such a failure mode that is not yet fully understood is white etching cracks (WEC). This can cause the bearing lifetime to be reduced to 5–10% of its design value. Multiple hypotheses are available in literature concerning its cause. To be able to validate or disprove these hypotheses, it is essential to have historic high-frequency measurement data (e.g., load and vibration levels) available. In time, this will allow linking to the history of the turbine operating data with failure data. This paper discusses the dynamic loading on the turbine during certain events (e.g., emergency stops, run-ups, and during normal operating conditions). By combining the number of specific events that each turbine has seen with the severity of each event, it becomes possible to assess which turbines are most likely to show signs of damage.

49 EE - Wind and Water Power Program - Wind (EE-4W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Drivetrain Reliability Collaborative 1.5 (DRC1.5) Project: Joint Industry Megawatt Scale Gearbox Field Tests: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report) CRADA Number CRD-17-00702

A new Department of Energy (DOE)/NREL industry collaboration called the Drivetrain Reliability Collaborative 1.5 (DRC1.5) will undertake field testing on a commercial multi-megawatt wind turbine drivetrain to collect loading data as installed in the turbine to thoroughly characterize drivetrain loads and responses during actual in-field conditions. A chief outcome is to provide publicly available operational loading data to the industry. This will provide a greater understanding of steady-state, transient, and fault response for both the input and output of the drivetrain; thus, facilitating improvements in the drivetrain components, lubrication system, power converter or turbine controller.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Drivetrain Reliability Collaborative Update

Pitch bearings, main bearings, and gearboxes in conventional wind turbine drivetrains often do not meet their 20-year minimum specified lifetime, resulting in turbine downtime as well as expensive, time-consuming repairs or replacements. The dominant failure modes of the drivetrain components and the conditions that lead to their failure are not fully accounted for during product design or routinely modeled for life management. Drivetrain reliability improvements and O&M cost reductions remain top priorities for both land-based and offshore wind turbines, especially as wind turbines continue to be deployed in increasingly remote and offshore locations, continue to increase in size, and are becoming expected to be in service beyond their original design life, all of which correspond to an increase in the impact of any reliability issues on O&M costs. This presentation summarizes the most recent activities by NREL and ANL on drivetrain reliability.

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DOE OSTI2015

Economic and Performance Analysis of Gear Box Failures. Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-07-236

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO, USA is forming a collaborative within the wind energy industry to address reliability issues on wind turbines. The National Wind Technology Center (NWTC), leading the collaborative effort, will allow gearbox manufacturers, bearing manufacturers, wind turbine owner/operators, and wind turbine manufacturers to team up for joint projects that address specific issues regarding design and reliability of wind turbine gearboxes. The primary means of investigation will be through full scale testing and analysis of actual gearboxes, both in the field and in the NREL 2.5 MW dynamometer test facility. These teams would contribute resources into a campaign that is intended to serve the mutual interests of a majority of the wind and gearbox industry stakeholders in addition to the specific project team objectives. that address specific issues regarding design and reliability of wind turbine gearboxes. The primary means of investigation will be through full scale testing and analysis of actual gearboxes, both in the field and in the NREL 2.5 MW dynamometer test facility. These teams would contribute resources into a campaign that is intended to serve the mutual interests of a majority of the wind and gearbox industry stakeholders in addition to the specific project team objectives.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Online remote control systems for static and dynamic compression and decompression using diamond anvil cells

The ability to remotely control pressure in diamond anvil cells (DACs) in accurate and consistent manner at room temperature, and at cryogenic and elevated temperatures, is crucial for effective and reliable operation of a high-pressure synchrotron facility such as High Pressure Collaborative Access Team (HPCAT). Over the last several years, a considerable effort has been made to develop instrumentation for remote and automated pressure control in DACs during synchrotron experiments. We have designed and implemented an array of modular pneumatic (double-diaphragm), mechanical (gearboxes), and piezoelectric devices and their combinations for controlling pressure and compression/decompression rate at various temperature conditions from 4 K in cryostats to several thousand Kelvin in laser-heated DACs. Because HPCAT is a user facility and diamond cells for user experiments are typically provided by users, our development effort has been focused on creating different loading mechanisms and frames for a variety of existing and commonly used diamond cells rather than designing specialized or dedicated diamond cells with various drives. In this paper, we review the available instrumentation for remote static and dynamic pressure control in DACs and show some examples of their applications to high pressure research.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Wind turbine drivetrains: state-of-the-art technologies and future development trends

Abstract. This paper presents the state-of-the-art technologies and development trends of wind turbine drivetrains – the system that converts kinetic energy of the wind to electrical energy – in different stages of their life cycle: design, manufacturing, installation, operation, lifetime extension, decommissioning and recycling. Offshore development and digitalization are also a focal point in this study. Drivetrain in this context includes the whole power conversion system: main bearing, shafts, gearbox, generator and power converter. The main aim of this article is to review the drivetrain technology development as well as to identify future challenges and research gaps. The main challenges in drivetrain research identified in this paper include drivetrain dynamic responses in large or floating turbines, aerodynamic and farm control effects, use of rare-earth material in generators, improving reliability through prognostics, and use of advances in digitalization. These challenges illustrate the multidisciplinary aspect of wind turbine drivetrains, which emphasizes the need for more interdisciplinary research and collaboration.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Roller Sliding in Wind Turbine Gearbox High-Speed-Shaft Bearings

Failures in gearbox bearings have been a primary source of reliability issues for wind turbine drivetrains, leading to costly downtime and unplanned maintenance. The most common failure mode is attributed to so-called white-etching cracks (WECs). This mode of failure can occur at 5%-20% of the predicted design life and has been observed in many other industries, bearing locations, bearing types, bearing parts, and steel types. The main drivers for the creation of WECs in steel specimens have been identified and verified by material testing. In a full-scale wind turbine gearbox, however, the conditions leading to WECs, the process by which this failure culminates, and the reasons for their apparent prevalence are all still highly debated. In a collaborative project, Flender Corporation, SKF and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have instrumented a commercial drivetrain, installed it in a wind turbine, and operated the turbine for over a year. In this report, these measurements are used to validate two different modelling approaches for bearing sliding, one analytical dynamic model and one multi-body model. Once validated, these models can then be used to evaluate the roller slip losses or cumulative frictional energy that are each considered as potential driving factors for wind turbine gearbox bearing failures by WEC.

17 WIND ENERGY↗