Gearbox Reliability Collaborative High Speed Shaft Tapered Roller Bearing Calibration.

摘要

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Gearbox Reliability Collaborative (GRC) is a project investigating gearbox reliability primarily through testing and modeling. Previous dynamometer testing focused upon acquiring measurements in the planetary section of the test gearbox (1). Prior to these tests, the strain gages installed on the planetary bearings were calibrated in a load frame (2). Recent input from GRC participants has highlighted the need for measurements of gear and bearing response, including reactions, load distributions, and temperatures in the high speed (HS) section of the gearbox due to a high rate of failures in the locating bearings supporting the high speed shaft (HSS) (3). Thus, instrumentation has been added to the HSS, pinion, and tapered roller bearing (TRB) pair of the GRC gearbox (GB) to measure loads and temperatures. A portion of the upcoming GRC dynamometer test program will then measure these loads in test conditions, including normal operation, generator radial misalignment, and simulated emergency stop conditions (4). The new HSS instrumentation on the TRB pair was calibrated from May 22-24, 2013, prior to starting the planned dynamometer tests. The purpose of this document is to describe this calibration process for the TRB pair instrumentation and the test results.