APPLICATION TECHNOLOGY
Innovative wind turbine maker gets peace of mind with Nord-Lock
Quality and durability are Eastern Wind Power’s top priorities for its 50kW vertical axis wind turbines. For crucial bolted joints the company uses Nord-Lock washers. “They are a brilliant piece of equipment,” says president and CEO Jonathan Haar. “When they’re in place, I can sleep easy at night.”
providing power for basic needs like drinking water and lighting. Unlike the propeller-type horizontal axis wind turbines that
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are common in many parts of the world, EWP’s vertical axis wind turbine has three vertical six-metre high carbon fibre blades. The benefits of this vertical configuration include lower noise, less risk to birds, no gearboxes and their associated mechanical issues, and they can be erected closer together than traditional wind turbines. From the outset EWP has focused on quality, reliability and
durability in the design and development of its Sky Farm 50kW vertical axis wind turbine. Not satisfied with the bolt securing solutions it had used previously, EWP tried Nord-Lock wedge-locking washers and was amazed with the results. The idea of switching back to another solution is now unthinkable.
Simple and elegant “We cannot afford failures,” says Linda Mongelli Haar, chairman of Eastern Wind Power Inc. “The turbine is only as
Each vertical axis turbine from Eastern Wind Power has three vertical six-metre high blades secured by Nord-Lock. 24 pairs of Nord-Lock washers per turbine secure the blades to the struts
ased in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Eastern Wind Power (EWP) is about to launch a wind turbine that could soon be spotted on roofs of urban high-rises, at remote industrial plants, or in developing countries,
strong as the weakest link, and we wanted to make sure after all our design and development work that we didn’t lose the quality by putting on nuts and bolts that weren’t going to do the job. That is why we turned to Nord-Lock. One of the important aspects of our safety work is using Nord-Lock washers, and now we don’t have to worry about anything coming loose or falling apart.” EWP’s president and CEO Jonathan Haar came across
Nord-Lock at the American Wind Energy Association Show in Atlanta in June 2012. “I was walking around the booths looking for new solutions to different ideas and there they were,” he says. “I looked at Nord-Lock’s solution and could just tell it would do what it’s supposed to do. It is very simple and elegant – and simple and elegant things tend to do their job well.” EWP currently uses Nord-Lock NL8ss washers – 24 per turbine – to secure the blades to the struts. “If the bolts here are not properly secured you get the bolt backing out a little and it will start to vibrate,” says Jonathan. “And even if it doesn’t back out all the way, it might snap the whole blade off because you’ve allowed enough space for vibration. That vibration can throw your whole turbine out of balance.”
Easier assembly The company will soon be testing another size of Nord-Lock
washers to secure additional crucial joints – where bolts hold the struts to the centre tower. “I think this will probably make assembly much easier,” says Jonathan. “At the moment we are using nylon locking nuts, and it takes forever to get them into position on the long threaded rod – and I’m normally hanging in the air when I’m doing it.” After a year of what Jonathan calls “really severe safety
testing”, Nord-Lock’s wedge-locking washers have lived up to expectations. “We’ve been through two hurricanes and a blizzard, and have been testing blades on top of Mount Washington for icing characteristics. We’ve checked the washers and they’ve worked great.”
Distributed energy James Brooks, president of Nord-Lock Inc, calls EWP
“a fantastic example of a progressive original equipment manufacturer (OEM)” in the wind power segment. “In the last four years Nord-Lock in North America has seen its OEM business grow as a result of companies like EWP focusing on innovation and safety – and safety of bolted joints is our primary mission,” he says. Besides OEMs, Nord-Lock has also seen dramatic growth of its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) business within the wind energy sector in North America. “We see a growing trend both with the OEMs designing with safety in mind, and with utility companies improving their own reliability and safety, and both are doing so with Nord-Lock,” says James. “We are rapidly becoming an industry standard in the wind power segment.”
www.nord-lock.com
114 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 81 May 2013
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