This invention refers to oil flushing equipment for machinery with rotating parts and, in particular, it refers to a flushing system for gearboxes used in wind turbines.
Patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,611 describes a method and a portable apparatus for purifying lubrication oil for machinery such as gearboxes and pump unit motors for oil wells.
Patent GB 2202460 describes an installation for the cleaning of a unit which via a pump creates the circulation of oil which passes through some filters to retain the impurities.
The patent application Ser. No. WO0153723 describes a method and a system for checking the cleanliness of the gear units used in gas turbines on aeroplanes, in which the oil that goes through the gear unit is pumped and later guided to a filter, after which the filter is removed to determine the weight of the collected particles which are then compared with the predetermined levels for the correct functioning of the gear units.
The patent application US20040035805 describes a method and an apparatus for the cleaning of various types of machine pollutants that includes hoses that connect to the machine, a pump that circulate the liquid and a low capacity filter for vaporising the fluid. It also has an automatic ventilation system which injects air into the fluid at determined time intervals.
None of the equipment described in the documents mentioned efficiently resolve the problem posed in the case of clean oil for gearboxes used in wind turbines during the hours of operation.
This invention proposes oil flushing equipment for machines with rotating parts and, in particular, gearboxes for wind turbines. This equipment consists of elements technically known as an oil tank, a motor-pump unit and oil filtration measures connected to the piping through which the oil circulates.
According to the invention, the equipment has the following essential characteristics:
The oil circulation pipes include valves that allow the differentiation of a first circuit to fill the machine with oil from the tank, a second circuit which re-circulates the oil through machinery, a third circuit to empty the gearbox of oil and to take the oil to the tank, and a fourth circuit to clean the oil deposited in the tank.
All four circuits mentioned share the motor pump and two pressure filters placed in serial.
The second and third circuits mentioned include a vacuum filter located between the machinery and the motor-pump unit.
Other characteristics and advantages of this invention can be found in the following detailed description, explaining its purpose, and associated with the attached diagrams.
Below is a detailed description of the invention for flushing equipment for gearboxes of wind turbines which consists of the following components:
The equipment allows for four operation modes detailed below.
The first operation mode, which fills the gearbox (40) with oil, follows the circuit referenced A in
The second operation mode, which re-circulates the oil through the gearbox (40), follows the circuit referenced B in
When the oil exits the gearbox (40), it is passed through the vacuum filter (22) used for pre-filtration of the oil therefore preventing the largest impurities from the gearbox (40) from passing through the motor pump unit (9) and damaging it. The filter body (22) is made of stainless steel and has a nominal porosity of 120 μm. The maximum flow for the filter is 500 l/min and the taring pressure for the by-pass is 1.5 bar.
The third operation mode, which empties the gearbox (40) of oil, follows the circuit referenced C in
The fourth operation mode, which cleans the oil in the tank (1), follows the circuit referenced D in
The motor-pump which operates the four mentioned circuits has a 5 Hz motor with a nominal speed of 1500 rpm and nominal power is 4 Cv. However, the motor pump is used together with a frequency variator making it possible to vary the motor rotating speed in order to vary the pump flow speed. This characteristic enables the equipment to be used for various gearbox modes as the nominal flow varies with each gearbox model from 40 l/min to 120 l/min.
Optionally, the equipment can include a particle counter situated just before the pressure filters (19) which will automatically vacuum a small amount of oil at periodical intervals. All bubbles will be eliminated from the oil and the flow will pass through a particle counter sensor which measures the purity of the oil.
In the implementations we have just described, modifications can be made within the range of the following claims:
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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P200500152 | Jan 2005 | ES | national |