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Tough Operating Conditions for Gentle Power Generation

Customized sealing and damping solutions for wind power plants

Great demands are made on components used in both off-shore and on-shore wind power plants. Elastomer elements in particular - such as seals, conical mounts or pressure accumulators - are expected to have long service lives, be easy to install and be highly resistant to all environmental influences.

The increasing performance of wind power plants makes ever greater demands on the technical components used in them. The design and dimensions of transmission seals, rotor bearings or rotating assembly seals are particularly important when it comes to ensuring long-term serviceability. High thermal stability, aging stability and resistance to media such as water, salt water, ozone and mineral oil are essential component attributes in such applications and require the use of specially adapted elastomer materials. For modern wind power plants, Simrit has a broad range of:

• rotary shaft seals
• endless sealing cords for very large diameters
• conical mounts
• pressure accumulators for blade pitch variation.

This list has recently been extended by an innovative telediagnosis tool for wind power plants:

• the first Simmerrings with integral leakage sensors

Seals for large mounts and rotating assemblies
The Radiamatic Simmerring has already proven its excellence and reliability as a rotor bearing seal for wind power plants. These rotary shaft seals can be used to seal large diameters of between 200 mm and 3,000 mm. These large seals are moulded, endless rings. This allows for great dimensional accuracy. A tension spring made of a stainless steel material ensures that the sealing lip is always pressed into the right position. These rotary shaft seals are designed to have an oversize outer diameter. During assembly, they are then lightly compressed to fit the nominal outer diameter. In addition, a metallic cover plate ensures axial compression in the housing, thereby ensuring the interference fit and static imperviousness.

The standard material used for large bearing and rotating assembly seals for wind power plants is the wear-resistant NBR. As a result of its high thermal stability and excellent ozone resistance, HNBR is often preferable for rotor bearing seals.

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Further Information
For further information relating to any of the above products, please contact Tony Snowdon on 0113 252 1061 or e-mail tonys@ftltech.co.uk