PRODUCTS BEARINGS, SEALS & GASKETS MANUFACTURING COMPACT, QUIET, HIGH PERFORMING WIND TURBINES
Gaia-Wind of Port Dundas, Scotland, manufactures small yet high performance wind turbines. Designed for moderate wind speed sites, these are suited to farms, rural properties, businesses and community projects. The quiet 133 turbine has an oversized rotor which allows it to capture significantly more energy than similarly rated machines, the company states. There are currently over 1400 of these installed worldwide. To optimise operating efficiency,
wind turbines need to be aligned to wind conditions. In order to achieve this, the slewing rings (yaw bearings) adjust and optimise the position of the nacelle to the direction of the wind. The wind loads and the dynamic inertia forces are transferred via the bearing raceways and screw connections into the head of the tower. Schaeffler UK has been working
with Gaia-Wind for over five years, supplying precision engineered slewing rings and E1 spherical roller bearings for the 133 turbine. It manufactures slewing rings with
outside diameters up to 1,250mm which can transmit radial and axial forces, as well as tilting moments. The slewing rings supplied for the
A BEARING SOLUTION FOR AUTOMOTIVE PUMPS
Within the automotive sector, there has been a shift from traditional, belt-driven coolant pumps to electrical equivalents, on the basis that these reduce demand on the belt drive, offering a substantial improvement in performance and greater overall efficiency with ‘on-demand’ cooling. Such pumps typically feature an impeller shaft which is supported by two bearings. For this, Morgan Advanced Materials has produced a bearing solution comprised of its P5600H proprietary carbon graphite material with a length-to- diameter ratio of two, which also included numerous face details and inner diameter (ID) and outer diameter (OD) slots. Not only was the solution cost-effective, but it offered ease of
assembly, as well as containing the vital component features which aid lubrication and prevent slip and anti-rotation. Materials like Morgan’s proprietary carbon are suited to the demands placed on them. They are said to offer a longer lifespan, stability at high temperatures and resistance to wear and tear. Michael Ritter of Morgan Advanced Materials,
commented: “Morgan’s proprietary method for producing bearings of this geometry has enabled us to deliver a range of performance advantages otherwise unattainable with conventional moulding technologies.”
Morgan Advanced Materials
www.morgansealsandbearings.com
38 MAY 2016 | DESIGN SOLUTIONS Schaeffler (UK)
133 turbine are four-point contact bearings, enabling precise angular adjustment at varying loads. The E1 bearings support the main shaft of the turbines. These are
double-row, self-contained units that comprise solid outer rings with a concave raceway, solid inner rings and barrel rollers with cages. The inner rings have cylindrical bores and are supplied to be fitted into a housed unit to suit the 133 turbine. The range includes eight bearing series with bore diameters from 20mm up to 1,220mm. Mike Addington, regional sales
engineer (Scotland) at Schaeffler UK, commented: “The INA slewing rings and FAG E1 spherical roller bearings are high performance bearings that provide the high quality and reliability that Gaia- Wind requires on its 133 turbine. “Currently, Gaia-Wind is working
towards a 20% improvement in the efficiency of its 133 turbine by the year 2020, and we are therefore looking at how Schaeffler’s bearing technology can support this requirement.”
www.schaeffler.co.uk
HOW REVERSE ENGINEERING CAN HELP WITH BEARING REPLACEMENT
Based in Austria, the Doppelmayr Graventa Group has witnessed a global rise in demand for ropeways, which are seen as an economic and rapid alternative to conventional ground transport in both inaccessible and highly urban landscapes. The company makes all of the required components for its ropeways in-house, including the large sheaves at the top and bottom stations which guide the main drive cable. The bearing surface of the sheaves must be manufactured with very high precision to ensure smooth operation and secure cable guidance. So, the sheaves are machined on a large surface wheel lathe that was rebuilt from an original longitudinal lathe produced many years ago by Zerbt. However, when the main spindle’s roller bearings needed to be replaced, the
company realised there was no documentation relating to the main spindle assembly. So, Doppelmayr turned to NSK. By characterising the installed
bearings through reverse engineering, NSK was able to replace them in the central bearing positions with high precision double row cylindrical roller bearings in the correct sizes. The replacement took place during a planned maintenance period so that production schedules were unaffected. For the axial bearings, spacer rings were measured after setting the
clearance and new ones manufactured in the required width. Tests confirmed that the previously measured value of 0.005mm had been successfully maintained.
NSK UK
www.nskeurope.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
