Virtual verification and improvement of innovative wind turbine gearbox design

Sammanfattning: Cascade Drives develops electromechanical linear actuators based on multiple pinions interacting with a gear rack. With a patented load sharing mechanism, that uses flexible torsional elements, the torque is equally distributed among the pinions. The same technology was used to develop an innovative wind turbine gearbox design for a Vestas V52 wind turbine, which is more compact and consists of less parts than the current solutions. In this thesis project, this gearbox design was analyzed through software tools, in order to verify its feasibility and refine its design for improvement. In the first part of this thesis, the gearbox was analyzed using Romax, a drivetrain analysis software. From this analysis, the gearbox’s gears, bearings, shafts and housing were assessed and some design refinements were done based on the results to improve the gearbox’s safety factors and life time. In the second part of this thesis, multibody dynamic (MBD) simulations were performed for the gearbox using MSC ADAMS, to study the dynamic response of the gearbox for three load cases of interest. An MBD model was created, which included the tooth contact flexibility and the flexibility of the torsional elements. Through these simulations, the flexible torsional elements’ stiffness was tuned in order to achieve an equal torque distribution among the gears for this application. Thus, the gearbox design was verified as a feasible solution for a Vestas V52 wind turbine.