Electrical Generator Gearbox at Power Generation Plant

A large windmill power generating project in Northern California experienced abnormal gear wear. Gearboxes are used to transfer energy from the windmills to the generators. The gears wore fairly quickly, becoming excessively loose, much more quickly than the design specifications. No particular failure mechanism could be determined.

The operator was replacing gears systems about every year or so, due to excessive wear. The oil supplier provided analysis of the lubricant showing that the oil supplied was of proper type and grade for the application and met the gear manufacturer's requirements.  This application note touches on these requirements and provides the eventual outcome based on the solution provided by SKF.