Feasibility study for the use of hydrodynamic plain bearings with balancing support characteristics as main bearing in wind turbines

Abstract

The failure of a wind turbine's main bearing leads to high maintenance costs which affects the economic competitiveness of wind energy as renewable energy source. Therefore, research is conducted to replace today's used roller bearings by plain bearings. These can be designed segmented so that in case of a failure the segments can easily be exchanged on tower. As part of a former research project a 1 MW plain bearing with conical sliding surfaces was developed and tested on a full-scale system test bench. This contribution presents a methodology how this concept can be developed further and optimized to design a bearing in 3-point suspension or a moment bearing for high power classes.