Gear oil failures in windturbines - Pinwire
 In Sci & Tech

Here are some photos of what happens when transmission failures occur in wind turbines.

To date no gear oil has been invented to withstand the pressures produced within these transmissions.

Most recently, the government gave Dow-Corning a big grant to work on it. Previously, many others had tried and failed.

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Showing 4 comments
  • neda
    Reply

    Where was it happen?can you describe it breifly

  • kenny eyler
    Reply

    If “To date no gear oil has been invented to withstand the pressures produced within these transmissions” then why aren’t there THOUSANDS of turbine failures? More than likely there was a failure in the stator of the dynamo itself.

  • Rodney Waite
    Reply

    A lot smaller fire than what happened in the Gulf Of Mexico. And I wonder how many people die in coal mines, and how burning it effects our health. Oh and lets not for get what happened in Japan with the Nuc plant, now thats safe for you. looks like that is little fire in scope of the others.

  • Bill Carson
    Reply

    The Otis AFB wind turbine looks like they will run it with a broken gear box until a catastrophic event happens while they have a spare gear box on site
    Otis Air Force Base Wind Turbine Failure-Video Documentation

    Friday, November 2, 2012 7:46 AM

    Otis Air Force Base Wind Turbine Failure -Video Documentation

    Here is the gear box review done by DA Roberts LLC . The Otis AFB ,Cape Cod Wind Turbine is just after 80 minutes:
    Video of the Portsmouth Wind Turbine Meeting Oct 23, 2012 . The video says that the wind turbine at Otis AFB which is a Furlander with a gear box has failed .
    Click on “Report on the mechanical condition of the Wind Turbine by Don Roberts of DA Roberts LLC” in the URL Look at 80 minutes into the video to see “Otis Wind Turbine Failure”

    http://www.theportsmouthrecord.com/TownCouncil/ptc.10.23.12.Flash.htm

    How do wind turbine fires start and could this happen at Otis Air Force Base ?

    Authorities are always investigating what causes commercial wind turbines to catch fire .They always say the cause of the fire is not known. The public never finds out the cause of the fire.

    Here is some food for thought.

    The wind turbine gearbox is exposed to high heat.To date no gear oil has been invented to withstand the pressures produced within these transmissions. Several cases occurred where the housings of wind turbines caught fire. As housings are out of the range of standard fire extinguishing equipment. The wind turbine fire is a catastrophe.
    A gear box is commonly used for stepping up the speed of the generator. The gear box holds about 200 gallons of caustic inflammable gear oil.

    The owners of these wind turbines get advanced warnings of a impending gear box failure by the number of microns of metal grindings in oil samples in the gear box. Once the metal shows up in the oil it’s generally too late and the turbine needs a gear box replacement. The cost between 600 thousand and one million.

    The turbine gear boxes have been failing within 5 years of the start of brand new turbines. The owners order a new gear box to be installed on site .

    The problem is the owner will run the old gear box in the turbine until it breaks down completely. Then replace the gear box with the one on hand .

    What’s the gamble here ? It’s simple the owners gamble there will be no fire ! How often is this going on ? How many times and does the wind industry have a policy to run the turbine gear box into the ground gambling no fire will occur ?

    The Massachusetts Military Reservation (Otis Air Force Base) received and installed its 1.5-MW Fuhrlander turbine in late fall 2009. The turbine has a gear box failure.
    The gear box made by Jake ,a German company has had gear box failures in Portsmouth ,Rhode Island and Princeton ,Massachusetts. The turbine was built and finished December 15, 2009.
    The Otis AFB turbine is still operating with a broken gear box ! Does this put the public at risk?

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