Excessive Gearbox Temperature
Understanding check for excessive gearbox temperatures in a little more detail
What is the purpose of the turbine issue check?
- The purpose of this check is to identify if one or more components in the turbine’s gearbox is operating at an excessive temperature. While gearbox failure is not as high as many other components, it is quite expensive to repair or replace and requires long-term shutdowns.
- Gearbox temperatures, in particular the gearbox oil temperature, can be a key indicator as an early fault warning. Accurately understanding the trends can help ensure the safety and reliability of the wind turbine’s gearbox.
Can you see this in 10-min data?
- Yes, it is typically possible to identify this issue in 10-minute data as temperature tends to be a slow changing signal. That being said, high-frequency data can be a useful tool to narrow down if the temperature fluctuation is linked into any specific turbine behaviors.
What does this look like / How do you identify this issue?
- The anomaly score of 1 signal exceeded the prescribed threshold (see below for details, and see evidence for details regarding the anomaly score and threshold) between 2023-02-15 and 2023-02-16 (defined as the issue period) during the detection period between 2023-01-29 and 2023-03-18.
- Target turbine is highlighted in red and all other turbines with the same turbine model are shown in gray as reference. Each data point represents the maximum value of the 10-min SCADA data during a 1-day window.
- There were at least two periods of time in the last year (in June and November) that the turbine appeared to be derating down to about 1800 kW due to a high gearbox oil temperature in excess of 80 degrees.
- Another example of Gearbox intermediate-speed bearing temperature:
How can you tell the issue is corrected?
- This issue is resolved when there are no outlier temperatures exceeding the prescribed threshold for expected operations.
