Solutions for the Wind Power Industry are not Limited to Bearings

SKF revealed its wind power solutions and services portfolio at WindEurope 2017. SKF’s offer ranges from components, such as the latest spherical roller bearings for wind turbine main shafts to the monitoring and inspection systems and also includes a blog focused on this sector.

di Alma Castiglioni

SKF Wind showcased a wide range of solutions, while demonstrating its uniquely informative content hub for the wind power industry, at this year’s WindEurope exhibition and conference in Amsterdam.
Among the key products on show there was SKF’s Multilog Condition Monitoring System IMx8, an innovative eight-channel version of the highly popular Multilog IMx machine health monitoring system platform and SKF’s most compact, easy-to-use machine health monitoring tool to date. The IMx-8 is Internet-enabled, providing remotely accessible machine health data in real time for expert analysis.
SKF will also be showing SKF Enlight Data Collect, which enables you to perform and share inspection, process and machine health data, company wide. Inspection routines are managed in the SKF Cloud and can seamlessly accessed through the Data Collect app. It’s easy to get started with low entry level setup costs. Typical use cases in wind industry are inspection routines for turbines, audits, basic condition monitoring with bluetooth vibration sensor and many more.
Also on display therewas SKF’s latest spherical roller bearings for wind turbine main shafts, a design adaptation of SKF’s existing heavy duty bearings featuring weight reduction, optimised internal geometry and improved lubrication capabilities to ensure lower contact pressures and enhanced load carrying capacity.
In addition to showcasing its all-encompassing and proven sector capabilities at this year’s WindEurope exhibition and conference, SKF also took the opportunity to demonstrate its unique online Wind Farm Management Blog, which supports customers with key industry insights and knowledge on trends, challenges, and innovations. The Wind Farm Management Blog is regularly updated with articles on maintenance, operations and technology issues, plus general news relating to the wind power industry.

A large-size bearing test centre was inaugurated this year
Visitors also discovered more about SKF’s new large-size bearing test facility, which was inaugurated this year in Schweinfurt, Germany. The €40m Sven Wingquist Test Centre is able to test large size bearings under actual operating conditions. This allows for a more efficient development process for customers, as well as improved bearing performance and increased service life. The Sven Wingquist Test Center has two testing rigs. One rig is designed for the testing of wind turbine main shaft arrangements. The second rig will be used for testing bearings used in other industrial sectors, including mining, construction, steel manufacturing and marine transport. Combined with SKF’s continued development of diagnostics, condition monitoring and simulation methods, these rigs will contribute to reduced testing and product development lead-times and provide deeper insights into bearing performance.