Patent Application
20250198389
The invention relates to housings for wind turbine gearboxes and a method for assembling the housing of a wind turbine gearbox.
Wind turbine gearboxes with torque support arms are known from the prior art, which support themselves in the machine carrier of a nacelle via connecting bolts. The torque support arms extend from a housing of the wind turbine gearbox laterally outwards. This is associated with a corresponding space requirement in the nacelle.
In an embodiment, the present disclosure provides a housing for a wind turbine gearbox, comprising at least two bolt eyes for receiving a respective bolt for fixing a housing in a nacelle-fixing means. In each case two bolt eyes are mirror-symmetrical to each other with respect to a first longitudinal plane. The bolt eyes are arranged entirely on a same side of a second longitudinal plane which runs orthogonally to the first longitudinal plane.
Subject matter of the present disclosure will be described in even greater detail below based on the exemplary figures. All features described and/or illustrated herein can be used alone or combined in different combinations. The features and advantages of various embodiments will become apparent by reading the following detailed description with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate the following:
Embodiments of the present invention provide an improved wind turbine gearbox compared to the prior art. Preferred embodiments are included in the following description.
A housing according to an embodiment of the invention is a housing for a wind turbine gearbox, i.e. a housing for a gearbox which is configured for use as a gearbox in the drivetrain of a wind turbine.
The housing has at least two bolt eyes. A bolt eye is a cylindrical recess for receiving an equally cylindrical part of a bolt. Preferably, the recess and the part of the bolt are each circular-cylindrical.
The at least two bolt eyes of the housing serve to fix the housing in a nacelle of the wind turbine and/or in a nacelle-fixed means. A nacelle-fixed means is a means that is fixed, i.e. without the possibility of relative movement, in the nacelle. A machine carrier for receiving and fixing the drivetrain, for example, is a nacelle-fixed means.
For fixing the housing by means of the at least one bolt, the nacelle-fixed means for its part has at least two bolt eyes. These are each part of a group of at least two, preferably three, bolt eyes aligned with each other.
The group includes at least one bolt eye of the housing in addition to the at least two bolt eyes of the nacelle-fixed means. This means that each group comprises at least one bolt eye of the housing and at least one bolt eye of the nacelle-fixed means. Preferably, a group comprises exactly two bolt eyes of the housing and exactly one bolt eye of the nacelle-fixed means, exactly one bolt eye of the housing and exactly two bolt eyes of the nacelle-fixed means or exactly one bolt eye of the housing and exactly one bolt eye of the nacelle-fixed means.
There is exactly one bolt for each group, which engages in the bolt eyes of the group. Accordingly, the bolt eyes of each group are aligned with each other. Due to the bolt, the bolt eyes of the respective group are fixed relative to each other.
The at least two bolt eyes of the housing are mirror-symmetrical to each other with respect to a first longitudinal plane. This implies that the at least two bolt eyes belong to different groups.
A longitudinal plane is a plane that contains a longitudinally running reference axis. In this case, the axis of rotation of the input shaft of the wind turbine gearbox serves as the longitudinally oriented reference axis. The first longitudinal plane preferably runs vertically.
Embodiments of the present invention provide for a second longitudinal plane which runs orthogonally to the first longitudinal plane. The bolt eyes are arranged completely on the same side of the second longitudinal plane. Preferably, the at least two bolt eyes are located below the second longitudinal plane.
The result is a shift in the position of the bolt eyes out from the lateral regions of the housing, thereby reducing the distance between the at least two bolt eyes to each other. The lateral space requirement of the housing is reduced accordingly.
In an embodiment, the central axes of the bolt eyes, i.e. the central axes of the cylinders, which each describe the shape of a bolt eye, run parallel to the first longitudinal plane and/or the second longitudinal plane. If the central axes of the bolt eyes run parallel to the first longitudinal plane and the second longitudinal plane, then the result is that the central axes run parallel to the axis of rotation of the input shaft of the wind turbine gearbox.
The housing is preferably configured with defined distances between the central axes of the bolt eyes and the first plane and the second plane. The distances are selected such that the bolt eyes are positioned in the corner regions of the nacelle. Here there is installation space that would otherwise not be used. This makes particularly effective use of the installation space available in the nacelle.
In an embodiment, the distance between the center axes of the bolt eyes and the first plane is not greater than twice the distance between the center axes of the bolt eyes and the second plane.
In an embodiment, the distance between the center axes of the bolt eyes and the first plane is not greater than the distance between the center axes and the second plane. This corresponds to an arrangement of the bolt eyes such that their central axes form an angle not greater than 450 with the axis of rotation of the input shaft of the wind turbine gearbox.
Conversely, in an embodiment, the distance between the center axes of the bolt eyes and the second plane is not greater than twice the distance between the center axes of the bolt eyes and the first plane.
In an embodiment, the distance between the center axes of the bolt eyes and the second plane is not greater than the distance between the center axes and the first plane. This corresponds to an angle of not less than 45° between the center axes of the bolt eyes and the axis of rotation of the input shaft of the wind turbine gearbox.
In particular, an arrangement of the bolt eyes is provided in such a way that the distance between their central axes and the first plane coincides with the distance between their central axes and the second plane. This corresponds to an angle of exactly 45° between the center axes and the axis of rotation of the input shaft of the wind turbine gearbox.
In an embodiment, a housing wall has at least two support arms. The housing wall refers to a part of the housing that encapsulates a cavity in which the internals of the gearbox, such as shafts, bearings and gears, are located. For example, the housing wall can encapsulate a rotor and/or input shaft of the gearbox and its bearings.
The housing wall separates the cavity from the surrounding of the housing. The housing wall thus runs between the cavity and the surrounding. Support arms refer to support structures for the housing wall. The support arms are used to support torques and other forces acting on the housing. In particular, the support arms can be integrally connected to the housing wall.
In a further embodiment, the at least two support arms each have one of the at least two bolt eyes.
The at least two bolt eyes are each formed by a means that has the corresponding recess for receiving the respective bolt. The means can be integrally connected to the housing and/or to the respective support arm. In a preferred further embodiment, however, the means are configured as pieces that are physically separate from the housing wall, in particular from the support arms. The at least two means are thus, according to an embodiment, not integrally connected to the housing wall. Preferably, the at least two means are detachably joined to the housing wall and/or to one of the at least two support arms in each case.
In an embodiment, the at least two support arms each have one of the at least two means. Since the support arms are part of the housing wall, there is, according to an embodiment, a physical separation between the means and the respective support arm.
The at least two means, which each have one of the at least two bolt eyes, can be configured in two pieces. In this case, the at least two means each consist of at least two physically separate pieces that are joined together. Preferably, the pieces are detachably joined together. Elastomers, with which the at least two means are mounted in the bolts, are easier to insert into the respective bolt eye in a two-piece configuration.
According to an embodiment, one of the pieces is connected integrally to the housing wall and/or to one of the support arms. The two-piece configuration of the at least two means ensures a simplified assembly and disassembly.
The at least two means, each having one of the at least two bolt eyes, can alternatively be integrally connected to the respective bolt in accordance with the present disclosure. The above embodiments relating to the bolt eyes then apply mutatis mutandis to the bolts.
A physically separate configuration of the at least two means from the housing wall together with the arrangement of the bolt eyes according to the present disclosure, is advantageous with regard to the assemblability and disassemblability of the wind turbine gearbox in the nacelle. As a result of the arrangement of the bolt eyes according to the present disclosure, their accessibility deteriorates. Due to the configuration as pieces physically separated from the housing wall, it is provided, in a method according to an embodiment of the invention, to first fix the at least two means in the nacelle by means of the respective bolt before the at least two means are subsequently joined to the housing wall and/or to the respective support arm. This is done by inserting the bolt into the bolt eyes of the respective group.
Embodiments of the invention are shown in
The gearbox housing 101 shown in
A space-saving alternative according to the present disclosure is shown in
To accommodate the bolts 109, bolt eyes with corresponding formations are provided in the machine carrier. These formations prevent the bolts 109 from being inserted from above together with the gearbox housing 101.
In order to still be able to install the gearbox housing 101 in the machine carrier 111, the torque support arms 103 have a multi-part-configuration. This can be seen in
For each bolt 109, two half-shells 301 are screwed to the machine carrier 111, each of which forms a bolt eye together with the formation in the machine carrier 111.
The torque support arms each consist of rib-shaped supports connected integrally to the gearbox housing 101 and a bolt receptacle 303. This is screwed to the respective supports and forms a further bolt eye.
In each case, a bolt 109 is inserted into two bolt eyes, each of which is formed by the machine carrier 111 and a half-shell 301, and into a bolt eye formed by a bolt receptacle 303. In this way, the bolt connects the three bolt eyes to each other.
According to
The gearbox housing 501 shown in
In
While subject matter of the present disclosure has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive. Any statement made herein characterizing the invention is also to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive as the invention is defined by the claims. It will be understood that changes and modifications may be made, by those of ordinary skill in the art, within the scope of the following claims, which may include any combination of features from different embodiments described above.
The terms used in the claims should be construed to have the broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the foregoing description. For example, the use of the article “a” or “the” in introducing an element should not be interpreted as being exclusive of a plurality of elements. Likewise, the recitation of “or” should be interpreted as being inclusive, such that the recitation of “A or B” is not exclusive of “A and B,” unless it is clear from the context or the foregoing description that only one of A and B is intended. Further, the recitation of “at least one of A, B and C” should be interpreted as one or more of a group of elements consisting of A, B and C, and should not be interpreted as requiring at least one of each of the listed elements A, B and C, regardless of whether A, B and C are related as categories or otherwise. Moreover, the recitation of “A, B and/or C” or “at least one of A, B or C” should be interpreted as including any singular entity from the listed elements, e.g., A, any subset from the listed elements, e.g., A and B, or the entire list of elements A, B and C.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2022 204 901.2 | May 2022 | DE | national |
This application is a U.S. National Phase application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2023/060064, filed on Apr. 19, 2023, and claims benefit to German Patent Application No. DE 10 2022 204 901.2, filed on May 17, 2022. The International Application was published in German on Nov. 23, 2023 as WO 2023/222318 A1 under PCT Article 21(2).
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2023/060064 | 4/19/2023 | WO |
