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EP-4677239-B1 - GEAR BEARING FOR A WIND TURBINE

EP4677239B1EP 4677239 B1EP4677239 B1EP 4677239B1EP-4677239-B1

Inventors

  • König, Christian
  • GETTLER, Ralf

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240228

Claims (11)

  1. Machine arrangement (10) for rotary transmission of a drive power, comprising a housing element (12), a rotation element (14) and at least one rolling-bearing arrangement, wherein, via the at least one rolling-bearing arrangement (16), which has rolling bodies (20) that roll on an inner and an outer bearing raceway (18), the rotation element (14) is held in the housing element (12, 44, 46) so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation A D , wherein the housing element (12, 44, 46) has respective structure regions (22) directed towards the rolling bodies (20) and the bearing raceways (18) are formed by a material which is connected integrally to the respective structure region (22), wherein a bearing cover (42) of the rolling-bearing arrangement (16) comprises the structure region (22) which forms the outer bearing raceway (18), characterized in that the material is applied additively to the structure region (22).
  2. Machine arrangement (10) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the bearing cover (42) is settable in terms of its axial position with respect to the housing element (12, 44, 46).
  3. Machine arrangement (10) according to either of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the bearing cover (42) is arranged on a side of the machine arrangement (10) on which the drive power is absorbed or on a side thereof on which the drive power is delivered.
  4. Machine arrangement (10) according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the material applied to the structure region (22) has undergone a material treatment which influences the surface hardness.
  5. Machine arrangement (10) according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the material has increased rolling strength in comparison with a base material of the structure region (22).
  6. Machine arrangement (10) according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the bearing cover (42) forms a circumferentially extending collar (38) which projects between the housing element (12, 46) and the rolling bodies (20) in the axial direction, wherein the outer bearing raceway (182) is formed on the collar.
  7. Drive train (102) for a wind turbine (100) for torque-transmitting connection of a rotor (106) to a generator (112), comprising a main bearing unit (108), which has a bearing housing (120) and a main shaft (118), and a transmission (110), which is driven via the main shaft (118), wherein the transmission (110) at least indirectly drives the generator and has a housing element (12), which is in the form of a transmission housing, and at least one planet carrier (14), which is in the form of a rotation element, characterized in that the housing element (12), the at least one planet carrier (14) and the rolling-bearing arrangement (16) are in the form of a machine arrangement (10) according to one of the preceding claims.
  8. Drive train according to Claim 7, characterized in that the bearing cover of the rolling-bearing arrangement (16) is arranged on that side of the transmission (110) which is directed towards the rotor (106) or on that side of the transmission (110) which is directed towards the generator (112).
  9. Wind turbine (100) comprising a rotor flange (104) with a rotor (106) and a generator (112), wherein provision is made of a drive train (102) which is held on a machine carrier (114) and which connects the rotor flange (104) to the generator (112), characterized in that the drive train (102) is designed according to Claim 7 or 8.
  10. Method for setting the machine arrangement (10) according to one of the preceding claims, in which, for setting the axial position of the bearing cover (42), an abutment surface of an abutment shoulder (28) of the bearing cover (42) with respect to the housing element (12, 44, 46) is adapted by mechanical reworking during assembly.
  11. Method according to Claim 10, characterized by setting the axial position of the bearing cover (42) by inserting a spacer element (48) between an abutment shoulder (28) of the bearing cover (42) and a housing flange (44, 46) of the housing element (12).

Description

The invention relates to a machine arrangement for the rotary transmission of a drive power, comprising a housing element, a rotating element and at least one rolling bearing arrangement, wherein the rotating element is rotatably held in the housing element about an axis of rotation A D via the at least one rolling bearing arrangement with rolling elements rolling on an inner and an outer bearing raceway. The rotating element can be, for example, a torque-transmitting shaft or a planetary carrier rotating within a gearbox housing. A drive train containing such components can, for instance, be found in a wind turbine, in the power flow between a rotor and a generator. The drive train typically includes a planetary gearbox to transmit drive torque from the rotor to the generator. Planetary carriers are mounted in the housings of such planetary gearboxes using either cylindrical roller bearings or, more recently, tapered roller bearings. Particularly on the torque-carrying side of the planetary carrier, a notch forms in the bearing ring seat, weakening the planetary carrier and limiting torque transmission. This hinders the continuous increase in the power density of such a drive train and its components. For the selection of the rolling bearing for the bearing arrangement, the decisive factor is usually not load- and service-life-related dimensioning, but rather the dimensional or geometric dimensioning. The reason for this is that the diameter of the rotor-side rolling bearing must be larger than the flange diameter of the planet carrier driven by the rotor via the main shaft in order to mount the rolling bearing from the rotor direction. The same consideration applies to the generator-side rolling bearing and its mountability. The rolling bearings used in the gearboxes represent a significant cost factor. The need to integrate bearing seats for the bearing rings into the planetary carrier and housing components creates structural notches, which are known to be critical areas of high stress, particularly in the planetary carrier. To reduce the effects of these notches, large radii must be incorporated into the planetary carrier, especially on the torque-carrying side, to accommodate the bearing seats. These radii increase the required axial and radial installation space for the gearboxes. The DE 10 2013 012847 A1 The figure shows a rotary drive with a worm gear, for example for cranes. Here, a rotatable turntable is held against a base frame element by means of a rolling bearing. The rolling elements are mounted directly between the structure of the turntable and the structure of the frame element without bearing shells. US 6 588 119 B1 Figure 1 shows a bearing arrangement for a machine element in which the rolling elements roll on inserted bearing rings. An adjusting device is described for setting bearing tension or clearance. When attached to or inserted into the machine element, this device temporarily replaces the actual bearing cap and its associated bearing shell to determine the required axial dimension of the bearing cap to be installed. In a pair of rolling bearings, the bearing preload or bearing clearance is also adjusted via at least one of the outer bearing rings. For these bearing rings, a High-quality and expensive bearing steel is used, although the cost disadvantage can be at least partially offset by using thinner bearing rings. Both the soft structures and the thin-walled bearing rings increasingly lead to the phenomenon of bearing ring migration, particularly of the outer bearing rings relative to the surrounding structure. A positive-locking anti-rotation device can be used as a remedy. However, with further increasing power density, it is expected that a positive-locking anti-rotation device will no longer be able to absorb the increasing migration forces, and the increasingly thin-walled bearing rings will no longer offer sufficient material to accommodate, for example, a keyway. Consequently, there is a need to adequately address the increasing power density, particularly in the area of bearing rings, and to specifically consider the phenomenon of bearing ring migration, while maintaining a practical method of bearing adjustment. The object of the invention is to demonstrate measures that prevent bearing ring wandering while the adjustability of the bearing remains. The problem is solved by a machine arrangement having the features of claim 1. Preferred embodiments are specified in the dependent claims and the following description, each of which, individually or in combination, can represent an aspect of the invention. When a feature is presented in combination with another feature, this serves only to simplify the presentation of the invention and is in no way intended to imply that this feature cannot also be a further development of the invention without the other feature. One embodiment relates to a machine arrangement for the rotary transmission of drive power, comprising a ho