Nearthlab, a leading provider of autonomous drone technology, announced that the company is scaling up its strategic partnership with ONYX Insight, a global provider of predictive maintenance solutions (PdM) beyond North America to Europe and APAC. The expansion comes a few months after the initial kick-off in March.  

Schaeffler introduced a Wind Power Standard for wind turbine bearings more than ten years ago, which considers the high demands on the reliability of turbines and associated components. This standard for products and processes ensures that wind turbine bearings are subject to the highest quality standards, as also implemented, for example, in the automotive industry, and in the aviation and aerospace sectors. The start of the year marked the manufacture and delivery of the millionth bearing by Schaeffler in accordance with the Wind Power Standard.

ADS Uptime is an extremely useful condition monitoring system for encoders. With local wireless service check-up or system integration with ADS Link, you have maximum flexibility to access data and diagnostics. With ADS Uptime, you can access live data and secure production uptime by making application health monitoring part of your proactive maintenance routine. Knowing things before they happen has never been easier. It was recently featured at the Heidenhain booth during Cleanpower 2023.

Heidenhain Corporation will be exhibiting at Cleanpower, May 22-25 in New Orleans, LA. The booth (#1514) will feature technologies from two companies in the Heidenhain family of brands—Leine Linde and LTN—that can reduce challenges related to wind turbine service and boost overall uptime. 

Bearing manufacturer NKE Austria GmbH is entering into a strategic partnership with Kugler Bimetal SA, a Swiss producer of bimetallic components and tribological surface finishes. The cooperation was announced at the Hannover Messe in April 2023. 

The earliest example of a gear train dates to at least 2,000 B.C. when Chinese engineers built a chariot that used a complex planetary mechanism made of wooden gears to let a dragon head continuously point south when driven around (Ref. 1). In Greece, a surprisingly advanced Antikythera gearbox mechanism, incorporating at least 37 precisely crafted bronze gears, was built years later, between 205–60 B.C. (Ref. 2).

PTE will feature a variety of new component technologies online for bearings, motors, couplings, brakes, gear drives, and motion control systems leading up to Hannover Messe 2023 in Germany. Here is a preview of some bearings suppliers to check out if you're planning on attending the event online or in-person in April.

At this year’s Hannover Messe, NKE Austria GmbH will present bearings for wind turbine gearboxes and generators. The Austrian bearing manufacturer has more than 20 years of experience in the wind energy sector. NKE bearings have been installed in more than 4,000 wind turbines across Europe, the USA and China, equivalent to more than 10,000 MW of installed power. 

PT products such as gears, motors, pumps, fans and bearings will—without a doubt—continue to run through rigorous and harsh environments for the foreseeable future, but software and hardware improvements aim to disrupt unplanned downtime and machine maintenance through a series of new condition monitoring assets.

Wind-turbine drivetrains undergo severe transient loading during start-ups, shut-downs, emergency stops, and during grid connections. Load cases that result in torque reversals may be particularly damaging to bearings, as rollers may be skidding during the sudden relocation of the loaded zone. Seals and lubrication systems must work reliably over a wide temperature variation to prevent the ingress of dirt and moisture and perform effectively at all rotational speeds in the gearbox. Many wind-turbine gearboxes have also suffered from fundamental design issues such as ineffective interference fits that result in unintended motion and wear, ineffectiveness of internal lubrication paths and problems with sealing. Improving the resistance of future gearbox designs to all these issues is a key to the future cost of energy generated by wind turbines.