As a leading supplier of roller bearings, seals, lubrication systems and technical service, SKF is a competent partner for the realisation and maintenance of wind turbines. The presentation at the Husum Wind Energy exhibition was entitled Lifecycle Management of Wind Turbines. The company exhibited solutions for the cost-efficient production of wind energy on two stands.
With an area of more than 200 square meters, SKF’s stand at Husum Wind 2012 was larger than ever before. In this way, the company was underlining the importance of energy change for modern organisations. The highlight of the stand was the new, enhanced SKF Nautilus rotor bearing for wind turbines between 1.5 and 6 MW.
It is lighter than its predecessor, works more reliably thanks to a new coating, is easier to fit and increases the overall system efficiency. It has also impressed a major European systems manufacturer who has just placed a three-year contract on SKF with a total volume of around 120 million euros.
The Nautilus bearing is part of the BeyondZero program, which shows SKF customers how the environmental impact in production and in operation can be significantly reduced by the consistent use of SKF solutions. SKF also presented its current range of main bearings, gearbox bearings and generator bearings as well as rotary joints in Husum.
In a dedicated area, the SKF Lubrication business unit was represented by the brands SKF and Lincoln, and presented solutions for the easy service, maintenance and installation of lubrication systems. New coating materials, which render lubrication systems more resistant to the harsh conditions in the offshore sector, were also shown.
SKF also exhibited the EFFP universal grease pump, which is suitable, for example, for use in nacelles of wind energy systems. Transport is made easier by two handles and a bracket for attaching to a hoist. The grease reservoir of the central lubrication system can be easily filled.
The EFFP can also be used for manual lubrication in wind energy systems without central lubrication. In addition, it can be fitted with a lubrication gun, with or without volumetric meter, thus eliminating the strenuous manipulation of a hand-held grease gun.
The state monitoring of systems and bearings is important to keep downtime as short as possible. In a live demonstration of the WindCon state monitoring system, data were transmitted directly from a wind energy system to the SKF stand. SKF state monitoring solutions for the wind energy sector monitor the system condition in real time and inform the operator of any degradation.
SKF also presented a complete replacement kit for replacing the bearings on the most commonly used wind turbine gearboxes. This enables repairs to be carried out more quickly when required, thus significantly reducing downtime.
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Press release, September 21, 2012; Image: SKF