F'IS Monitors MULTIBRID M5000 Offshore Wind Turbine Prototypes

Services and Online Condition Monitoring for the first 5 MW Multibrid prototypes – State-of-the-art monitoring system as a guarantor of early failure detection – Maintenance in offshore environments requires immense logistical efforts

HERZOGENRATH, May 17th 2006. FAG Industrial Services GmbH (F’IS) has won the order from Bremerhaven-based MULTIBRID Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH for online condition monitoring of the first Multibrid M5000 offshore wind turbine prototypes in Bremerhaven. Instead of insisting on the expensive revision clause, most insurance companies nowadays agree to more cost-effective, condition-based maintenance of wind turbines, provided that the operators install a suitable condition monitoring system. The FAG WiPro monitoring system from F’IS was awarded the required seal of quality by the Allianz Center for Technology (AZT) in 2003. Recently it was also certified by the Hamburg-based Germanischer Lloyd GmbH insurance company whose inspectors also praised the outstanding qualification of the Herzogenrath monitoring center and its service staff.

The MULTIBRID M5000 wind turbine was developed in accordance with a completely new turbine concept which was optimally adapted to offshore conditions. Its most obvious offshore characteristic is the platform which rises to a height of 34 meters and supports containers holding the frequency converter and transformer, among other things. Outstanding advantages of the turbine include its low weight (200 tons) and the compact nacelle dimensions, which enable the assembly at sea with only one lift. The total weight of the tower head including the rotor blades, which are attached to the hub at a height of 102 meters and measure 56.5 meters in length, amounts to only 310 tons. This makes the M5000 the most light-weight wind turbine in the 5-megawatt performance category currently available worldwide.

The main rotor bearing is an FAG product and thus supplied by Schaeffler Group Industrial, the parent company of F’IS. In order to minimize detrimental effects of the rotor loads on the gearbox and generator, the customized double-row tapered roller bearing transfers these loads to the adjacent structure, bypassing the gearbox/generator units. The advantage of this concept is its significantly reduced weight.

F’IS and Schaeffler Group Industrial have also developed the condition monitoring concept for economical maintenance management. It provides for continuous monitoring of the bearing supports in terms of vibration, temperatures and movement with the help of numerous sensors. Any data deviating from standard norms are immediately evaluated by experienced specialists and corresponding steps are taken. This helps to avoid unplanned downtime and makes it easier to plan ahead for maintenance operations. In the wind energy sector especially this is an important point as wind turbine maintenance involves huge and costly logistical efforts, such as making available heavy-duty cranes in usually rough terrain. In an offshore environment, this aspect is even more important due to higher turbine output – downtime losses - and higher weight of the parts to be replaced. In addition to the obligatory condition monitoring, the WiPro system from F’IS reduces the amount of data required for wind turbine analysis. Thus the system is also suitable for monitoring wind farms with a larger number of wind turbines.

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