Getting Your Wind Turbines in Gear

Wind turbine design alone goes only so far to optimising blade rotation. The gearbox plays a crucial role in keeping the turbine operating at the speed necessary to maintain a cost-efficient flow of power drawn from the world’s atmosphere.

Gearbox optimisation can help unlock the full potential of a wind turbine’s efficiency and ensure that the energy it captures is stored and distributed resourcefully.

Protecting the heart of the machine

If a gearbox breaks down, the wind turbine is out of action, which can lead to expensive repairs and unwanted downtime.

Proper lubrication is important to the maintenance and upkeep of the whole operation, since it helps eradicate harmful pressures like surface fatigue – or micropitting – and bearing failure.

The importance of lubrication

As an expert partner, Shell Lubricant Solutions can help demonstrate how lubrication could improve wind-turbine effectiveness through advanced gearbox maintenance, and how a high-performance lubricant can help to extend the lifespan of the gearbox.

For example, Shell Omala S5 Wind 320 is a synthetic wind turbine gear oil designed to help lessen gear and bearing damage, while delivering exceptional lubrication performance, increased efficiency, and improving the reliability of the gearbox. With a highly diverse operating temperature range, the oil is designed to operate effectively under severe operating conditions and in extreme climates. Its advanced formulation provides enhanced protection¹ - up to 14 times better corrosion prevention than a key competitor product² – to help avoid unplanned downtime and the associated repair costs. Shell Omala S5 Wind also has excellent performance against yellow metal materials which makes it fit for purpose as well as for new plain bearing gearbox designs. The oil also has a 10-year warranty, meaning the gearbox requires only one oil change rather than the industry-standard two during the turbine’s lifecycle.

All of this adds up to helping ensure reliable operations, while managing total cost of ownership.