Publication detail

Using acoustic emission for condition monitoring of the main shaft bearings in 4-point suspension wind turbine drivetrains

MOHAMMAD, H. VLAŠIC, F. ŽÁČEK, J. MAYA, B. MAZAL, P.

English title

Using acoustic emission for condition monitoring of the main shaft bearings in 4-point suspension wind turbine drivetrains

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

en

Original abstract

The continuous growth of wind power technology makes condition monitoring of wind turbine components crucially important for their operational efficiency. The main shaft bearings in wind turbines have been identified as one of the most critical components in the system, especially with the ongoing increase in rotor size and weight. This increase made the 4-point suspension drivetrain more preferable. In this study, we present a novel approach for condition monitoring of the main shaft bearings in a 2 Megawatt wind turbine with 4-point suspension drivetrain using primarily acoustic emission (AE). The focus was on the analysis of time and frequency domains of the AE signal, where the dominant frequency of each AE hit was identified and plotted back in the time domain to create the so-called dominant frequency map in specific time intervals for each bearing. A comparison between the two dominant frequency maps of the two bearings gives valuable insights into the condition of the two bearings. The distinctive nature of the dominant frequency bands in the dominant frequency maps presented promising potential for this method. The presented method is straightforward and can be automated and then integrated into a planned predictive maintenance programme for this wind turbine.

English abstract

The continuous growth of wind power technology makes condition monitoring of wind turbine components crucially important for their operational efficiency. The main shaft bearings in wind turbines have been identified as one of the most critical components in the system, especially with the ongoing increase in rotor size and weight. This increase made the 4-point suspension drivetrain more preferable. In this study, we present a novel approach for condition monitoring of the main shaft bearings in a 2 Megawatt wind turbine with 4-point suspension drivetrain using primarily acoustic emission (AE). The focus was on the analysis of time and frequency domains of the AE signal, where the dominant frequency of each AE hit was identified and plotted back in the time domain to create the so-called dominant frequency map in specific time intervals for each bearing. A comparison between the two dominant frequency maps of the two bearings gives valuable insights into the condition of the two bearings. The distinctive nature of the dominant frequency bands in the dominant frequency maps presented promising potential for this method. The presented method is straightforward and can be automated and then integrated into a planned predictive maintenance programme for this wind turbine.

Keywords in English

Acoustic emission (AE); wind turbine (WT); main shaft bearing; condition monitoring (CM); dominant frequency (DF)

Released

23.11.2023

Publisher

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Location

ABINGDON

ISSN

1058-9759

Volume

23 Nov 202

Number

23 Nov 2023

Pages count

24

BIBTEX


@article{BUT186740,
  author="Housam {Mohammad} and František {Vlašic} and Jiří {Žáček} and Baraah {Maya} and Pavel {Mazal},
  title="Using acoustic emission for condition monitoring of the main shaft bearings in 4-point suspension wind turbine drivetrains",
  year="2023",
  volume="23 Nov 202",
  number="23 Nov 2023",
  month="November",
  publisher="TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD",
  address="ABINGDON",
  issn="1058-9759"
}