Professional technical operations management requires the technical knowhow of the operations manager. Checking by sight is still an important tool to identify obvious faults and irregularities and point them out to the manufacturer. However, what about the “invisible” irregularities? These are to be made visible. Tools for this task have been available for some time, being established in other industries for years. More and more insurance companies honour investments in early fault detection, making the profitability of these measures calculable.
Condition monitoring systems have been accepted as sensible means to review the vibration behaviour of the drive train also in the wind power industry; however they are not yet standard equipment. We offer you advisory services independent from any manufacturer as well as the professional regular analysis of the data; also as remote service.
Checking of the drive train alignment is probably still being underrated by wind turbine operators. However we have to consider that almost half of all faults and damages within rotating machines can be trace back to faulty alignment. Possible results are bearing damages, fatigue effects on the shaft, leakages, clutch damages, overheating, increased energy consumption or an increased vibration level.
Electro thermo-graphical measuring is a very operator-friendly means to check electrical facilities within a WTG as it may take place during the ongoing operation of the wind turbine. This enables to detect irregularities within current-carrying elements early on, as for example loose screw connections in switchboards which may lead to fire.
