Repairing a gear part in a wind turbine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10378636-B2
Application number	US-201515513328-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2015
Priority date	Oct 24, 2014
Publication date	Aug 13, 2019
Grant date	Aug 13, 2019

Abstract

A method for repairing a gear part ( 1 ) in a wind turbine, in particular repairing damaged teeth of a toothed rim ( 2 ). A repair cavity ( 10 ) is formed by removing material, including one or more damaged teeth, from the gear part ( 1 ) by drilling one or more holes through the gear part ( 1 ) along a direction which is substantially parallel to an axis of circular symmetry of the gear part ( 1 ). A repair segment ( 15 ) comprising one or more replacement gear teeth ( 16 ), and having a geometry which matches a geometry of the repair cavity ( 10 ), is arranged in the repair cavity ( 10 ), and attached to the gear part ( 1 ) by introducing one or more fasteners ( 17 ) into fastener openings ( 11, 13, 14 ) formed in the gear part ( 1 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for repairing a gear part in a wind turbine, the gear part comprising a toothed rim, and the gear part defining an axis of circular symmetry, the method comprising the steps of:
removing material from the gear part, including one or more damaged teeth of the toothed rim, by drilling one or more holes through the gear part along a direction which is substantially parallel to the axis of circular symmetry, thereby forming a repair cavity in the gear part,
providing at least one fastener opening in the gear part by drilling one or more holes and/or one or more recesses in the gear part along a direction which is substantially parallel to the axis of circular symmetry,
providing a repair segment having a geometry which matches a geometry of the repair cavity, the repair segment comprising one or more replacement gear teeth,
arranging the repair segment in the repair cavity, and
attaching the repair segment to the gear part by introducing one or more fasteners into the fastener opening(s).

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of removing material from the gear part comprises drilling two or more holes through the gear part along a direction which is substantially parallel to the axis of circular symmetry, the two or more holes being arranged in abutment with each other or with an overlap, the two or more holes thereby forming a single repair cavity in the gear part.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of providing at least one fastener opening in the gear part comprises drilling one or more recesses in the gear part, said one or more recesses forming part of the repair cavity.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of providing at least one fastener opening in the gear part comprises providing a fastener opening having a first diameter and a recess having a second diameter, the second diameter being larger than the first diameter, the fastener opening and the recess being provided in a single drilling step, and the single drilling step being stopped when the recess has a predefined depth.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
providing a jig comprising one or more guiding apertures,
mounting the jig on the gear part in a region containing damaged gear teeth of the toothed rim, while aligning the jig with respect to undamaged gear teeth of the toothed rim,
performing the steps of removing material from the gear part and providing at least one fastener opening in the gear part by drilling through the guiding aperture(s) of the jig, and
removing the jig from the gear part after the steps of removing material from the gear part and providing at least one fastener opening in the gear part have been performed.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of removing sharp edges from an inner surface of the repair cavity, by means of grinding or polishing, after the step of removing material from the gear part and prior to the step of arranging the repair segment in the repair cavity.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of removing material from the gear part is performed using an annular cutter drill bit.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the gear part forms part of a yaw system of a wind turbine.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the gear part forms part of a pitch system of a wind turbine.

10. A repaired gear part for a wind turbine, the gear part defining an axis of circular symmetry, comprising:
a toothed rim,
a repair cavity formed in the gear part, said repair cavity defining at least one rounded contour formed by a drill bit, and
a repair segment mounted in the repair cavity and attached to the gear part by means of one or more fasteners, the repair segment having a shape and a size which matches the at least one rounded contour of the repair cavity, and the repair segment comprising one or more replacement gear teeth,
wherein one of the one or more fasteners is aligned along a direction which is substantially parallel to the axis of circular symmetry.

11. The repaired gear part according to claim 10 , wherein the repair cavity defines two or more rounded contours, each formed by a drill bit, the two or more rounded contours being arranged in abutment with each other or with an overlap.

12. The repaired gear part according to claim 10 , wherein the at least one rounded contour(s) form(s) at least 50% of a surface of the repair cavity.

13. The repaired gear part according to claim 10 , wherein the repaired gear part forms part of a yaw system of a wind turbine.

14. The repaired gear part according to claim 10 , wherein the repaired gear part forms part of a pitch system of a wind turbine.

15. A jig for use in repairing a gear part in a wind turbine, the jig comprising:
means for aligning the jig with gear teeth of a gear part to be repaired,
at least one guiding aperture arranged for guiding a drill, and
means for mounting the jig on a gear part to be repaired in a position where the guiding aperture(s) is/are arranged in a region comprising one or more damaged teeth of the gear part.

16. The jig according to claim 15 , wherein the jig comprises at least two guiding apertures, the at least two guiding apertures being arranged in abutment with each other or with an overlap.

17. The jig according to claim 15 , wherein the means for aligning the jig comprises a toothed rim arranged to be aligned with a toothed rim of a gear part, and wherein the means for mounting the jig on a gear part to be repaired is arranged to mount the jig in a position where the toothed rim of the jig is aligned with the toothed rim of the gear part.

18. The jig according to claim 15 , wherein the at least one guiding aperture defines at least one rounded contour.

Assignees

• Vestas Wind Sys As
• Vesta Wind Systems As

Inventors

• Brown Nicholas
• Grossen David

Classifications

• F16H55/17 Primary

  Toothed wheels (worm wheels F16H55/22; chain wheels F16H55/30) · CPC title

• F05B2230/80

  Repairing, retrofitting or upgrading methods · CPC title

• B23P15/14

  gear parts, e.g. gear wheels · CPC title

• F16H55/12 Primary

  with body or rim assembled out of detachable parts · CPC title

• F16H2055/175

  specially adapted for easy repair, e.g. exchange of worn teeth · CPC title