NSK Bearings: Powering Wind Energy Solutions

Wind Turbines

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Wind power continues to expand worldwide as a clean energy source in the fight against global warming.

Wind turbines can be enormous machines. Some current 2 megawatt turbines have blades nearly 40 meters in length with a rotor hub height of 60-100 meters. Turbines are also heavy: a single unit can weigh over 200 tons. Wind turbine bearings are built to match these massive structures, with bore diameters between 100-700 mm and widths 2 meters across or more.

Very few manufacturers worldwide can offer a stable supply of such large bearings; however, NSK stands out with exceptional production capabilities and a global sales and service network. NSK entered the market in the late 1990's, supplying the European wind turbine industry with reliable bearings before expanding into the United States, China, India, and elsewhere.

With NSK bearings used by nine of the world's top ten wind turbine manufacturers, NSK’s proven track record reflects our commitment to serving turbine manufacturers and our pledge to the environment.

Operating conditions: variable loads

Wind turbines are enormous machines. Many 2 megawatt class turbines are being built with blades of 130+ foot in length, and a rotor hub height of 195 to 328 feet with total weight over 200 tons. Due to their size, the bearings used in wind turbines are extremely large, with bore diameters between 100 mm and 700 mm.

Very few manufacturers worldwide can offer the market a stable supply of such large bearings. Suppliers must have both production capability and the ability to provide sales and technical service in key locations around the world.

Currently, NSK bearings are used by nine of the world's top ten wind turbine manufacturers, and in turn the company is making a substantial contribution to environmental protection.

Bearing design by experienced engineers using sophisticated calculation and simulation tools: In addition to extreme and maximum conditions, load cycles, lubrication, deformation and thermal response are also taken into consideration. This allows a safe design to be created in order to achieve the desired service life using cost-optimized components.

HR tapered roller bearings, EM Series & EW Series of Cylindrical Roller Bearings with high load ratings

HR taper roller bearings and cylindrical roller bearings from NSK are ideal for main gearboxes as they have high loads and remain reliable despite changing loads. They can be arranged in various constellations – as locating/non-locating bearings, adjusted bearing arrangements or floating bearings.

BOC (black oxide coating) offers longer service life: Black oxide coating is a method used to reduce the risk of white etching cracks (WEC) in bearings. An even more special material AWS-TF (Anti White Structure-Tough) is available to prevent damage caused by white etching cracks. To increase the load rating and service life, our STF material (Super-Tough) has proven to be successful, especially in applications with contaminated lubricants.