New Wind Turbine Bearings

The operational challenges for wind turbines cannot be overestimated

Increased turbine power and size,extreme weather conditions, heavy loadsn and remote locations are just a few.

LDB has developed an innovative slewing bearing design with enhanced sealing capabilities and redesigned internal geometry to meet these challenges.

The LDB High Endurance Slewing Bearing offers increased resistance to harsh environmental conditions to improve reliability and performance and extend bearing service life.

Design, material and knowledge engineering combine for high endurance New internal bearing geometry in the cage and raceways reduces friction and increases turbine and pitch control performance. Reduced friction contributes to pitch system effectiveness and efficiency to maximize energy production.

A new seal material, manufactured from polyurethane, provides better resistance to ozone, UV and salt water, reducing wear and providing longer service life than traditional nitrile-based sealing solutions.

The seal design is engineered to be less sensitive to ring deformation during operation for improved sealing efficiency,reducing grease leakage and water ingress, which results in improved robustness and lower maintenance costs.

The innovative way the bearing and seal are attached provides simplified installation and replacement, while at the same time the seal efficiency is maintained despite ring deformations under maximum operating loads.

Benefits

  • Increased turbine reliability even in harsh environments
  • Extended seal and bearing service life
  • Reduced operation and maintenance costs
  • Improved pitch control for increased performance
  • Reduced installation and replacement time

 

Typical applications

Pitch bearings to optimise the blade position for different wind conditions

Yaw bearings to correctly position the nacelle during operation

LDB offers a complete approach

As the world leader and innovator in bearing technology for more than 100 years, LDB has a unique understanding of rotating equipment and how machine components and industrial processes are interrelated, in every major industry worldwide. This knowledge – coupled with our expertise in sealing solutions,lubrication systems, linear motion,machinery maintenance, mechatronics,and services – enables us to deliver real-world solutions that help maximize mechanical performance over the entire lifecycle of an asset. As a result, LDB is your single source for off-the-shelf and customized technology products,solutions and services.

  • LDB High Endurance Slewing Bearing
    Improved performance and reliability to meet wind industry demands
  • New seal design
    Improved seal function under high loads, reducing lubricant leakage and water Ingress
  • EcoPur seal material
    Increased resistance to wear, UV, ozone and salt water, improving seal reliability and service life even in harsh environments
  • Optimized cage design
    Adjustments to the cage design and a special coating reduce the internal friction of the bearing
  • Optimized raceway design
    Reduced internal friction and increased service life

Wind Turbine Bearings Market | LDB

Marine Propeller orientation device (POD)

Marine Propeller orientation device (POD)

LDB has a long history of providing a full range of slewing bearings for the azimuth positions of marine applications.

These highly tailored solutions cover outside diameters from 50 to 7 900 mm.

Our wide range of engineering expertise in bearings, seals, mechatronics, services and lubrication systems all contribute to the high quality of our marine solutions.

As proof, every bearing designed and produced for marine applications is subject to approval by certifying authorities.

Large Slewing Bearings

Large Slewing Bearings

Traditional energy Turret mooring systems and cranes

LDB has decades of experience partnering with oil and gas customers to develop large slewing bearings for the turret mooring systems and cranes used in offshore oil extraction ields.

Designed with a wealth of application knowledge and specialised sealing systems,large slewing bearings for traditional energy provide high reliability and performance in harsh conditions.An energy company makes use of the characteristics of large slewing bearings and uses the large slewing bearing with a diameter of 13.4m as an offshore drilling platform.

Additionally, LDB has developed monitoring detection systems to help ensure the safety of large cranes used in offshore platforms and we are able to conduct bearing inspections on site.

Material handling Cranes slewing bearing

Metals Ladle turrets Application

Metals Ladle turrets Application

Material handling Cranes slewing bearing

Material handling Cranes slewing bearing

Dockside and deck cranes are moving heavier loads, faster than ever before.

Drawing on deep application knowledge and using advanced FEM calculations to optimize designs,LDB slewing bearings for cranes increase reliability and bearing service life, while reducing maintenance costs.

Integrating LDB’s advanced condition monitoring technologies also boost uptime and productivity.

“To solve my technical issue, LDB signiicantly increased the slewing bearing’s service life thanks to advanced calculations and specially developed technical solutions.”- Material handling customer.

Wind Turbine Bearings

Tunnel Boring Slewing Bearing

Metals Ladle turrets Application

By integrating LDB’s high temperature seals, cages and components, LDB slewing bearings for ladle turrets increase reliability and bearing service life while reducing maintenance costs.

In addition, LDB’s advanced condition monitoring technologies provide valuable information on bearing wear rate. This helps reduce the impact that slewing bearing change-outs can have on production as it allows for time to safely plan and optimally schedule change-outs.

“LDB slewing bearings have better service life than competitor bearings.”– Metals customer

Bucket wheel stacker reclaimer bearing

Bucket wheel stacker reclaimer bearing

Stacker reclaimers slewing bearings for stacker reclaimers increase reliability and bearing service life while reducing maintenance costs by integrating advanced condition monitoring technologies. Automatic drop height and displacement measurement trends give a clear picture of bearing wear rate,allowing time to safely plan slewing bearing change-outs with minimal impact on production.

“Sealing solutions are better and they help provide increased slewing bearing service life.” – Mining customer

Scrap standard and service life of tower crane slewing bearing

All machines will experience wear and tear after a long period of use. When the parts exceed the service life or are damaged beyond repair, they should be scrapped and replaced. The tower crane slewing bearing is prone to failure and damage in the long-term outdoor harsh environment and high-load operation, so to what extent does it meet the scrapping standard of the tower crane slewing bearing?

Scrap standard of tower crane slewing bearing

slewing bearing

1. Slewing bearing raceway ring and rolling element wear and scrap

The wear of raceway rings and rolling elements is one of the common forms of scrapped slewing bearings. When there is raceway pitting on the surface of the slewing bearing, surface metal peeling and overall wear, abnormal noise, rolling element jamming and excessive clearance between the raceway rings will occur in the tower crane during operation, resulting in vibration and local impact. With the development of the state, the slewing resistance will continue to increase and the slewing function will be lost.

2. The slewing bearing cage is damaged and scrapped

In order to avoid mutual friction between the rolling elements, the tower crane slewing bearing usually adds a spacer cage between the rolling elements. The material of the cage is generally copper, plastic, powder metallurgy or mild steel. During the working process of the bearing, the cage does not transmit the load, but it moves with the rolling elements. When the cage is damaged or broken, there will be a sharp and ear-piercing abnormal sound. As the broken body of the cage is pushed and rolled by the rotating rolling body, it will cause serious damage to the raceway ring and the rolling body. At this time, the slewing bearing meets the scrap standard and can be replaced.

3. The slewing bearing gear teeth are damaged and scrapped

The gear meshing methods of tower crane slewing bearing include external tooth meshing and internal tooth meshing. When the surface of the gear teeth is excessively worn, cracks and broken teeth occur. The tooth side clearance of the tower crane slewing bearing gear teeth increases, causing the slewing bearing to lose its function immediately when the tooth is broken, and it cannot be repaired. At this time, the scrapping standard of the tower crane slewing bearing is reached.

4. The connecting bolts of the slewing bearing are damaged and scrapped

Although the connecting bolt of the slewing bearing is not the bearing body, the failure of the bolt will also cause the slewing bearing to fail to work. The damage of connecting bolts in tower crane work is also a common phenomenon. When a slewing bearing connecting bolt loosens or breaks, it often brings about a chain reaction of loosening and breaking of other bolts. At this time, the slewing bearing also needs to be replaced.

5. The slewing bearing is scrapped due to corrosion and burn damage

Due to the complex working environment of the tower crane slewing bearing, the situation that the bearing may encounter is also unpredictable. If it is corroded by corrosive substances such as acid and alkali during operation, it will damage the internal components of the bearing and cause the bearing to be scrapped.

Service life of tower crane slewing bearing

Slewing Bearings

Under a certain load, the number of revolutions or hours that a bearing experiences before pitting occurs is called bearing life. The service life of tower crane slewing bearing is affected by rotational speed, radial load, basic rated load, equivalent compliance, speed coefficient, and fatigue life coefficient.

1. Calculation formula of bearing life

L10–When the bearing load is P, the basic rating life (106 revolutions)

C–Basic dynamic load rating N

ε–index

Ball bearing: ε=3

Roller bearing: ε=10/3

P–equivalent dynamic load (N)

The load on the bearing under actual conditions: A, R, converted into the load under the experimental conditions is called the equivalent dynamic load. For the bearing components, this load is variable. During the experimental study, the bearing life is 106 turns to The unit is more convenient (counter), but in actual production, the general life is expressed in hours, so it is necessary to convert L10×106=Lh×60n.

Slewing Bearings

2. Calculation method of tower crane slewing bearing life

(1) Knowing the bearing type, load and shaft speed, calculate Lh;

(2) Knowing the load, speed and life expectancy, calculate C, and select the bearing model.

Usually, the medium repair or overhaul limit of the machine is taken as the design life of the bearing, generally Lh’=5000, and the temperature coefficient ft should be introduced for the bearing working at high temperature

Ct=ftC

t≤120 125 150 200 300

ft 1 0.95 0.90 0.80 0.60

The above is the relevant content about the scrapping standard of the tower crane slewing bearing. The tower crane may affect its service life due to its complex use environment. At the same time, good maintenance and repair can also prolong the service life of the tower crane slewing bearing.

Tunnel Boring Slewing Bearing

Tunnel Boring Slewing Bearing

Driving reliability to cut tunnel completion times, slewing bearings for tunnel boring machines are built to withstand huge loads as cutter heads bore into solid rock or dificult soils. These heavy-duty, roller bearings are designed  to carry all cutter head loads and transfer  them to the rear. In addition, we use our sealing expertise to integrate proven designs for tunnel boring machine head applications that keep earth out of the main bearing and lubricants in it.

We offer solutions for a broad array of applications based on our wide variety of experience in major tunnel projects worldwide including.

“has the best bearing cages and was able to ind logistics solutions to meet our expectations in a very short time.”– Tunnel boring customer.

Slewing Driver Application

Slewing bearing comes in many sizes

Wind Turbine Bearings

Wind energy Turbines

Drawing on a wealth of wind turbine engineering knowledge, LDB has developed an innovative slewing bearing design with enhanced sealing capabilities and redesigned internal geometry to meet the challenges of the wind industry.

The LDB High Endurance Slewing Bearing offers increased resistance to harsh environmental conditions to improve reliability and performance and extend bearing service life.“With its advanced technical knowledge, LDB was a reliable development partner for my windmill slewing bearing solutions.”– Wind energy customer.

Wind turbines generate electricity under adverse and constantly changing conditions, both on and offshore. Efficient power generation from wind turbines demands high performance from every component – particularly the bearings used in the turbine drivetrain and gearbox.slewing bearing


LDB rolling bearings for these applications perform with robust resistance to seizure, wear, flaking and unique challenges such as white etching cracks (WEC) to deliver advanced product design solutions for a reliable and sustainable operating life.

Slewing Ring Bearings in Construction and Excavator and Roller Applications

Slewing Ring Bearings in Construction and Excavator and Roller Applications

LDB slewing bearings of the preloaded,cross-roller type are an ideal choice for excavators as they offer high reliability even when subject to heavy loads and tilting moments in severe operating

environments.

LDB also works closely with road roller to provide customised slewing bearing solutions designed to handle the high vibration levels needed for highspeed,high-quality compacting. Due to an integrated, reinforced sealing system,the bearings remain unaffected by the hot asphalt environment and are protected against water intrusion.