Wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9915246-B2
Application number	US-201514705063-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 6, 2015
Priority date	Aug 21, 2012
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement, e.g. of horizontal type, comprising a rotor shaft for supporting wind turbine blades, a non-rotating first housing structure for supporting the rotor shaft, and a first rolling bearing arranged to support, in a first axial direction, the rotor shaft in relation to the first housing structure at a first support point. The first rolling bearing is a single row self-aligning bearing comprising an inner ring, an outer ring, and a set of rolling elements formed of rollers arranged in an intermediate configuration between the inner and outer rings. Each roller is a symmetrical bearing roller having a curved raceway-contacting surface arranged contacting a curved inner raceway of the inner ring and a curved outer raceway of the outer ring. A contact angle between each roller and the inner and/or outer raceway is inclined in relation to the radial direction of the rotor shaft.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement, comprising:
a nacelle housing having an inner nacelle surface,
a rotor shaft adapted to support wind turbine blades, the rotor shaft being hollow and having an inner shaft surface defining a bore therein,
a supporting housing structure positioned inside of the bore in the rotor shaft;
the supporting housing structure comprising a first housing structure disposed therealong for supporting the rotor shaft,
a first rolling bearing disposed between the supporting housing structure and the inner shaft surface of the rotor shaft and arranged to support, in a first axial direction, the rotor shaft in relation to the first housing structure at a first support point,
wherein the first rolling bearing is a single row, self-aligning bearing comprising an inner ring, an outer ring, and a set of rolling elements formed of rollers arranged in an intermediate configuration between the inner ring of the first rolling bearing and outer ring of the first rolling bearing,
wherein each roller of the first rolling bearing is a symmetrical bearing roller and has a curved raceway-contacting surface arranged in contact with both of a curved inner raceway of the inner ring of the first rolling bearing and in a curved outer raceway of the outer ring of the first rolling bearing,
wherein a contact angle between each roller of the first rolling bearing and at least one of the inner raceway of the first rolling bearing and outer raceway of the first rolling bearing is inclined in relation to the radial direction of the rotor shaft,
the supporting housing structure comprising a second housing structure adapted to support the rotor shaft,
a second rolling bearing disposed between the supporting housing structure and the inner shaft surface of the rotor shaft arranged to support, in a second, opposite axial direction, the rotor shaft in relation to the second housing structure at a second support point,
wherein the second rolling bearing is a self-aligning bearing comprising an inner ring, an outer ring, and a second set of rolling elements formed of rollers arranged in an intermediate configuration between the inner ring of the second rolling bearing and outer ring of the second rolling bearing,
wherein each roller of the second rolling bearing is a symmetrical bearing roller and has a curved raceway-contacting surface arranged in contact with a curved inner raceway of the inner ring of the second rolling bearing and in contact with a curved outer raceway of the outer ring of the second rolling bearing,
wherein a contact angle between each roller of the second set of rollers and the inner and/or outer raceway of the second rolling bearing is inclined in relation to the radial direction of the rotor shaft, and
a generator disposed in the nacelle housing and axially located between the first housing structure and the second housing structure, the generator comprising a rotor and a stator, wherein the rotor is directly attached to and abutting the rotor shaft without another component therebetween such that the rotor and the rotor shaft turn together, the stator being attached to the inner nacelle surface.

2. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the inner ring of the first rolling bearing is arranged at the first support point, and the inner ring of the second rolling bearing is arranged at the second support point,
wherein the first support point and second support point are separately arranged in relation to each other along the axial direction of the rotor shaft.

3. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the outer raceways of the first roller bearing and second roller bearing are facing away from each other in the axial direction.

4. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the first rolling bearing and second rolling bearing are arranged to cooperate to axially locate the rotor shaft in relation to the first housing structure and second housing structure.

5. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the second rolling bearing is one of:
a single row spherical roller bearing, or
a single row toroidal roller bearing.

6. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the first housing structure and the second housing structure are both located within the nacelle framing.

7. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the first housing structure and the second housing structure are integrally formed in supporting housing structure unit which is configured to be mounted in the nacelle framing.

8. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the first rolling bearing is one of:
a single row spherical roller bearing, or
a single row toroidal roller bearing.

9. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the contact angle of at least one of the first rolling bearing and second rolling bearing is between 10 and 45 degrees.

10. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the contact angle of at least one of the first rolling bearing and second rolling bearing is between 15 and 35 degrees.

11. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein each housing structure is arranged radially outside the rotor shaft.

12. The wind turbine rotor shaft arrangement according to claim 1 , further comprising a hub unit for supporting the wind turbine blades,
wherein rotor shaft is formed of a portion of the hub unit.

Assignees

• Wendeberg Hans
• Leander Haakan
• Reichert Juergen
• Skf Ab

Inventors

• Wendeberg Hans
• Leander Håkan
• REICHERT JüRGEN

Classifications

• F16C2240/34

  Contact angles · CPC title

• F16C19/36

  with a single row of rollers · CPC title

• F16C19/547

  with two angular contact rolling bearings · CPC title

• F16C23/086

  forming a track for rolling elements · CPC title

• F16C19/548

  in O-arrangement · CPC title