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	Wind turbine gearbox test stand configuration developed by SwRI

A wind turbine test stand capable of testing wind turbine gearboxes up to 2.5 MW at 2X rated load was designed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Challenges associated with developing this stand included:

• Low speed (10-12 rpm)

• High torque (over 4 million ft-lbs)

To achieve the necessary power requirements, SwRI designed a regenerative test stand consisting of a:

• Motor

• Generator

• Speed-reducing gearbox

This test stand allows testing of wind turbines with full-power generation set by its own generating system and controller.

	5-degrees-of-freedom test fixture

5-Degrees-of-Freedom Test Fixture

Through independent research, SwRI engineers discovered that most gearboxes fail in the field due to improper bearing loading. In current testing practices, torque is the only load applied to the gear box. Using SwRI’s 5-degrees-of-freedom fixture, other forces (thrust, pitch, yaw, horizontal, and vertical force) can be added to the input shaft of the gearbox to better simulate the wind force effect. This new technology will dramatically improve fatigue testing capabilities for gearboxes and help improve in-service reliability.

Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing

SwRI is an industry leader in the area of hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing and its application to high-horsepower electrically regenerative test stands used for gearbox testing. HIL testing takes real-world data and simulates it in a test stand environment. In applying HIL testing to wind turbines, SwRI can simulate wind forces with mathematical models sent to the motor and test fixture. HIL testing is also capable of simulating grid effects through power supply variation.

For more information about our wind turbine gearbox test stand capabilities, or how you can contract with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), please contact Rebecca Warden at rwarden@swri.org or (210) 522-6266.

windteststand.swri.org

| Office of Automotive Engineering | SwRI Home |

Southwest Research Institute^® (SwRI^®), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a multidisciplinary, independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organization with 11 technical divisions.

April 09, 2013