The application of sliding planet gear bearings in wind turbine gearboxes has become more common in recent years. Assuming practically applied helix angles, the gear mesh of the planet stage causes high force and moment loads for these bearings involving high local loads at the bearing edges. Specific operating behavior and suitable design measures to cope with these challenging conditions are studied in detail based on a thermo-hydrodynamic (THD) bearing model. Radial clearance and axial crowning are identified as important design parameters to reduce maximum pressures occurring at the bearing edges. Furthermore, results indicate that a distinct analysis of the gear mesh load distribution is required to characterize bearing operating behavior at part-load. Here, operating conditions as critical as the ones reached at nominal load might occur. Wear phenomena can improve the shape of the gap in the circumferential as well as in axial direction incorporating a significant reduction of local maximum pressures. The complexity of the combination of these aspects and the additionally expected impact of structure deformation gives an insight into the challenges in the design processes of sliding planet gear bearings for wind turbine gearbox applications.

The use of planetary gear stages intends to increase power density in drive trains of rotating machinery. Due to lightweight requirements on this type of machine elements, structures are comparably flexible while mechanical loads are high. This study investigates the impact of structure deformation on sliding planet gear bearings applied in the planetary stages of wind turbine gearboxes with helical gears. It focuses on three main objectives: (i) development of a procedure for the time-efficient thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic (TEHD) analysis of sliding planet gear bearing; (ii) understanding of the specific deformation characteristics of this application; (iii) investigation of the planet gear bearing’s modified operating behavior, caused by the deformation of the sliding surfaces. Generally, results indicate an improvement of predicted operating conditions by consideration of structure deformation in the bearing analysis for this application. Peak load in the bearing decreases because the loaded proportion of the sliding surface increases. Moreover, tendencies of single design measures, determined for rigid geometries, keep valid but exhibit significantly different magnitudes under consideration of structure deformation. Results show that consideration of structure flexibility is essential for sliding planet gear bearing analysis if quantitative assertions on load distributions, wear phenomena, and interaction of the bearing with other components are required.

This paper focuses on the operating behavior of journal bearings for industrial machinery application during run-ups. For this purpose, a numerical simulation code that is based on a two-dimensional extended and generalized Reynolds equation and a full three-dimensional energy equation, was advanced by a theoretical model considering the effects of mixed friction and warming of journal components during start-up. The mixed friction routine contained the elastic half-spaces model proposed by Boussinesq, which considers the influence of rough surfaces by implementing flow factors and calculates additional stiffness and dissipation in areas with solid interactions. Furthermore, a transient term was added in the energy equation to consider the thermal inertia of journal, and bearing to ensure a realistic heating during run-ups. Results of the prediction were compared to experimental data taken from a special test rig built up for validation procedures. Besides the conventional sensors for temperature, oil flow, and relative motion between shaft and stator, a contact voltage measurement was installed to determine the intensity of mixed friction. The evaluation of experimental data by Stribeck curves, based on a shaft torsion measurement, indicated a significant influence of run-up time on frictional moment. The friction coefficient of the rotor bearing system was strongly influenced by the run-up time. A short run-up time reduced the frictional coefficient in the mixed lubrication regime while the opposite behavior was observed in the hydrodynamic lubrication regime. The numerical code predicted these tendencies in good agreement with experimental data, however, only if the transient energy model was applied.

The identification results for the static performance characteristics of a large tilting-pad bearing in load between pad configuration are presented for specific bearing loads between 1.0 and 2.5 MPa and for circumferential speeds up to 79 m/s. The bearing is lubricated by spray-bars and can be described by the following specifications: Five pads, 0.23 nominal preload, 60% offset, 56° pad arc angle, 500 mm inner diameter, 350 mm pad length and 1.28 per mille relative bearing clearance. The axial oil flow is reduced by a fixed seal on both bearing edges which has a nominal radial clearance of 1 mm. The film pressure and the gap width are determined in the whole area of the sliding surface by an axial shift of the shaft. The bearing temperatures are measured by means of 100 thermocouples located 5 mm behind the sliding surface. The experimental results indicate that significant pad deformation occurs in circumferential and in axial direction. Also the effective supply temperatures are much higher than the nominal ones. According to the lubricant flow the sensor temperatures close to the spray-bars at the sliding surface rise about 20 K for 7 l/s and 40 K for 3.5 l/s at 3000 rpm. The temperatures are nearly constant between all pads and depend only on speed and not on load. The theoretical analyses of the bearing performance was accomplished with the bearing calculation software COMBROS. This code models the transition between laminar and turbulent flow and solves an extended Reynolds equation, the three dimensional energy equation of the film and the heat conduction equations of the shaft and the pads considering various boundary conditions due to the judgment of the user. Concerning the minimum film thickness, the maximum temperature on the sliding surface and the maximum film pressure only poor agreement was reached if the influence of the axial pad deformation was neglected. In advanced analyses a co-simulation between COMBROS and a structural mechanics software shows that an improvement of the prediction was achieved. The comparison of the measurement data and the advanced simulation shows very good agreement for the characteristic bearing parameters as well as for the local distributions of film pressure, temperature and film thickness in the whole operating range of the bearing. Further, the applied inlet mixing model for the lubricant supply process proves to be very suitable.

The quality of predictions for the operating behavior of high-speed journal bearings strongly depends on realistic boundary conditions within the inlet region supplying a mixture of hot oil from the upstream pad and fresh lubricant from the inlet device to the downstream located pad. Therefore, an appropriate modeling of fundamental phenomena within the inlet region is essential for a reliable simulation of fluid and heat flow in the entire bearing. A theoretical model including hydraulic, mechanical, and energetic effects and the procedure of its numerical implementation in typical bearing codes for thermo-hydrodynamic lubrication is described and validated. Convective and conductive heat transfer as well as dissipation due to internal friction in the lubricant is considered for the space between pads or the pocket where the inlet is located. In contrast to most other models, the region between the physical inlet and the lubricant film is part of the solution domain and not only represented by boundary conditions. The model provides flow rate and temperature boundary conditions for extended Reynolds equation and a three-dimensional (3D) energy equation of film and inlet region, respectively. The impact of backflow from the inlet region to the outer supply channel possibly occurring in sealed pockets is taken into account. Moreover, the model considers the influence of turbulent flow in the inlet region.

In recent years, the trend towards larger wind turbines and higher power densities has led to increasing demands on planet gear bearings. The use of sliding bearings instead of rolling bearings in planetary bearings makes it possible to increase the power density with lower component costs and higher reliability. Therefore, the use of planet gear sliding bearings in wind turbine gearboxes has become more common. However, the flexible structure and complex load conditions from the helical tooth meshes lead to highly complex elastic structure deformation that modifies the lubricant film thickness and pressure distribution and, thus, has to be considered in the calculation of the bearing’s load-carrying capacity. This paper introduces a highly time-efficient calculation procedure that is validated with pressure measurement data from a three-stage planetary gearbox for a multi-megawatt wind energy plant. The investigations focus on three main objectives: (i) analyses of experimental and predicted results for different load cases, (ii) validation of the results of planet gear sliding bearing code, and (iii) discussion on mandatory modeling depths for the different planet stages. Results indicate the necessity of further research in this field of applications, particularly for the third-stage bearings.