Good machinery can last a lifetime. But, replacement parts for older equipment may be near impossible to find. So, what do you do when you're looking to replace hard-to-find bearings and related parts for older machines?

This paper presents an evaluation of measurements being taken on a 750 kW wind turbine gearbox being tested by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). High-speed stage gears and bearings have been identified as critical components of the gearbox; during gearbox testing, these components were instrumented and tests were developed to evaluate loads on high-speed tapered roller bearings (TRBs). In this paper an advanced finite element-based contact modeling procedure has been applied to model the high-speed stage with the bearings fully modeled in order to evaluate strain levels. A major conclusion is that the strains of the slotted grooves are at such a level that they have acceptable signal-to-noise levels. This was verified by the results of the initial experiments presented here.

This Q&A session with various experts at Thomson Linear Systems covers linear slides & stages, clutches & brakes, bearings and actuators.

In today’s increasingly competitive global economy, industries and the companies that serve them are always looking for an edge. Price and quality being routinely accepted as a given, businesses—large and small—are always looking for a little help. For the worldwide bearing industry, that help exists in the form of the Bearing Specialists of America (BSA).