Proactive Main Bearing Monitoring on Wind Turbine Using Acoem's Shock Finder™

Country: France
Application: Wind Energy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A wind farm was able to enhance its turbine’s main bearing, monitoring by using Acoem’s Shock Finder™ Index (SFI) technology. The solution successfully detected early-stage bearing cracks, enabling proactive maintenance and avoiding costly repairs. By identifying faults early, the customer prevented major gearbox degradation and minimized production losses.

The Challenge

Before implementing Acoem’s Shock Finder Index™ (SFI), the customer faced frequent unplanned downtimes and high maintenance costs due to undetected failures in the main bearing of their 1.5 MW wind turbine. The early stages of bearing wear often went unnoticed, leading to substantial repairs and extended turbine downtime.

Potential Consequences:

Full bearing and gearbox replacement (costing up to €250k)
Long downtime, severely affecting production

Impact on Business:

High operational and maintenance costs
Extended periods of unplanned turbine shutdown

The Solution

The customer implemented Shock Finder Index™ (SFI) for continuous monitoring of the main bearing under Acoem’s Methodology. The SFI was set up to analyze turbine performance in three operating conditions:

Low: Around 30% of nominal power
High: Around 80% of nominal power
All: Between 30% and 80% of nominal power (condition used to detect abnormal shocks)

In the “All” condition, the SFI detected abnormal shock events indicating potential bearing issues. By filtering the raw time signals, it was able to identify the presence of periodic impacts at specific frequencies, directly correlating with cracks in the bearing.

The Results

Through SFI’s detailed monitoring, the customer was able to detect bearing issues long before they became critical:

Initial Detection: During the first measurement period, the SFI identified 22 shocks, corresponding to cracks on the inner ring of the main bearing.
Follow-Up: Six months later, the number of shocks increased to 100, signaling worsening damage.
Proactive Intervention: Based on this data, the customer was able to schedule a timely bearing replacement.

Cost Savings:

Bearing Replacement: The customer replaced the bearing at a cost of €15k.
Production Loss: The replacement took just 1 week instead of the expected 10 weeks, saving 9 weeks of production downtime, by detecting the issue early, the customer Saved €72k of his production.
Avoided Additional Damage: Early detection prevented further gearbox degradation, avoiding costs of 250+ k€.

The Impact

Acoem’s Shock Finder™ Index (SFI) enabled the wind farm to shift from reactive to proactive maintenance, greatly improving the turbine’s overall reliability. The customer was able to minimize unplanned downtimes and costs while ensuring that future failures were detected in their infancy. The successful early-stage detection of the bearing fault has solidified the ongoing partnership with Acoem and opened the door for further monitoring solutions across other turbines.