Analysing the influence of non-torque loads on the excitation behaviour of integrated WTG gearboxes

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The Noise-Vibration-Harshness behaviour, especially the tonality of wind turbines, is an important criterion for getting an operating permit of the wind turbine and receiving the acceptance by customers. The tonality behaviour of a wind turbine is mainly driven by the dynamic behaviour of the powertrain and partially by the excitation behaviour of the gearbox. The excitation behaviour of planetary gear stages can be described by the parameter and path excitation and depends on the phase shift based on the macro geometrical parameters. The path excitation is caused by the designed micro geometry but also based on all deviations from the ideal involute. This can be caused due to mesh misalignments by load dependent deflections inside the gearbox. These deflections can be induced by the distortion of planet carriers. In addition, the powertrain integration increases the risk of load dependent mesh misalignments caused by non-torque loads on the gear stages. A robust design must compensate all these deflections. For deriving a robust design under these conditions, the knowledge about the effects must be applied and reflected in the analyse and design methods for gearboxes. This paper will treat the investigations of the influence of non-torque loads on the excitation behaviour of gearboxes. The paper will describe the basics of gear excitations in the context of the powertrain architecture. Furthermore, it will show how the test procedure has been designed to evaluate the excitation behaviour under the influence of non-torque loads behaves. It will conclude with the discussion of the test results.