Risk Assessment of Gear Box of Wind Turbine using FMEA Approach

Abstract

The use of renewable energy has become imperative worldwide and thus wind energy is becoming attractive source of renewable energy. This reason has led to significant growth of wind-farms in recent years especially in developing countries like India. However, several limitations in context of failure of components are associated with its practical implementation. Considerable downtime has been noticed due to failure of major components in onshore wind turbines. This paper presents the application of Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) for calculating Risk Priority Number (RPN) and remedial measures have been suggested accordingly. A case study of 1000 MW capacity project set up under the flagship of Suzlon Wind Energy is presented. Most failure intensive component, Gear box, has been considered for application of FMEA. With the aim of improvement of availability and decline of RPN, suitable diagnostic and maintenance measures are presented. The RPN of a wind turbine system has been found to be very useful for the wind plant maintenance engineers.