Design and Experimental Research on Centralized Lubrication and Waste Oil Recovery System for Wind Turbines

Abstract

Lubrication plays a key role in increasing availability of wind turbines, extending unit life and reducing operating costs. In view of the problems of valve core lag, grease hardening and difficulty in removing waste oil in a centralized lubrication system, an improved centralized lubrication system and waste oil recovery system were designed in this study. Discharge of waste grease in the bearing cavity was simulated under different vacuum conditions. It was shown that vacuum degree of bearing cavity is proportional to oil output speed of waste grease. Performance and fatigue reliability tests of the waste grease suction and drainer device test platform were conducted over 12,000 fatigue cycles. The results show that the vacuum degree error of the waste grease suction and drainer device before and after the test is less than 5%, and the power oil pressure, oil output pressure and oil output quantity of the test product are stable, indicating that the designed waste grease suction and drainer device has excellent sealing and reliability. The waste grease suction and drainer device can eliminate grease discharge resistance in the bearing cavity, facilitating discharge of waste oil and improving wind turbine operation efficiency.