Understanding Main Bearing Failures – Mitigating a $150K – $300K O&M Cost

Dr. Arnab Ghosh demonstrates Sentient’s New Main Bearing Wear Model.

The presentation features:

1. New capabilities in the DigitalClone Live software that predict early wear initiation in the main bearing raceways and rollers.
2. How to understand the current health of the main bearing in a particular asset to mitigate damage prior to failure.
3. How to  reduce the cost of repair, currently ranging from $150K – $300K for each occurrence, and reduce the amount of downtime.

According to a report by Windpower Engineering & Development, the cost to repair main bearings is one of the highest compared to other turbine systems ranging from $150,000 to $300,000. As fielded turbines age, the aggregated downtime has increased to more than 20,000 hours.