Electrostatic discharge impacts on the main shaft bearings of wind turbines
Journal article, 2023

This paper studies the electrostatic discharge effect in wind turbines, a possible trigger source of the main bearing current. A lab setup with a charge generator and downsized wind turbine was built to verify the impact of electrostatic discharge on the main bearing current. In the test, a fatal amplitude for the bearing current was found at only −93 mV driven voltage on the shaft. Compared with the bearing current driven by the common-mode voltage, the electrostatic discharge effect triggers the bearing breakdown at a lower shaft voltage but much higher bearing current amplitude. The results demonstrate that the electrostatic discharge effect is a pattern of the bearing current in wind turbines and is much more dangerous to the bearing.

Electrostatics

Electrostatic devices

Author

Jian Zhao

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Electric Power Engineering

Xiangdong Xu

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Electric Power Engineering

Ola Carlson

Chalmers, Electrical Engineering, Electric Power Engineering

Wind Energy Science

23667443 (ISSN) 23667451 (eISSN)

Vol. 8 12 1809-1819

Detecting and eliminating bearing currents for longer lifespan of mainshaft bearings

Swedish Energy Agency (2017-008071/44949-1), 2018-01-01 -- 2021-12-31.

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Energy

Subject Categories

Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics

Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

DOI

10.5194/wes-8-1809-2023

Related datasets

DOI: 10.5194/wes-8-1809-2023 URI: https://wes.copernicus.org/articles/8/1809/2023/

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