1

Models of Wind-Turbine Main Shaft Bearings for the Development of Specific Lightning Protection Systems
M. Paolone, F. Napolitano, A. Borghetti, C.A. Nucci, M. Marzinotto, F. Fiamingo, C. Mazzetti, H. Dellago
turbines, can result in high costs of maintenance considering the difficulties involved with their replacement [4]. After a brief discussion relevant to the use of the available International standards for the design of wind turbine LPSs [517], the paper presents the electrical characterization of bearings and the development of relevant numerical and analytical electromagnetic models able to provide useful elements for a correct design of wind turbine LPS. In particular, the paper focuses on the modelling of the behaviour of the wind turbine main shaft bearing during lightning strikes. A first model is realized by using the Finite Element Method (FEM) approach, whilst a second model has been developed by applying the image theory. The validation of the proposed models by means of experimental tests on reduced and real scale bearings is also presented. Then, the proposed models are used for the development of a specific bearing LPS which effectiveness is verified via experimental tests performed using both frequency domain measurements and current-pulse injections in a reduced scale model. The paper is structured as follows: Section II reports a summary of the IEC available standards for the design of wind turbine LPSs. Section III presents the experimental electrical characterization of a reduced scale bearing model taking into account different operation situations. Section IV illustrates the developed bearing models for the prediction of the electrical impedance. The same section will also report the experimental validation of the proposed models. Section V is devoted to the description of a developed LPS for the protection of the wind turbine main shaft bearing as well as its experimental performances analysis. II. ON THE USE OF THE IEC STANDARDS FOR THE DESIGN OF WIND TURBINE LPSS Until year 2005 the IEC Standards usually adopted for lightning protection was IEC 61024-1 series [5-8] for Lightning protection system (LPS), while IEC 61312 series [9-11] for protection against Lightning Electromagnetic Pulse (LEMP) and IEC 61622 TR2 [12] for risk assessment. Nowadays all these standards documents were substituted by complete five parts standard (IEC 62305- 1 to 4) [13-16]. These standards provide the general principles to be followed in designing the protection of a structure and services entering

Abstract One of the main cause of damages for wind turbine power plants is certainly constituted by lightning. Direct and indirect events can indeed produce damages and malfunctions of electrical and mechanical components. Concerning mechanical components, blades and bearings are the most involved parts. In particular, lightning-damages produced at bearings positioned at the mechanical interface between rotating parts of the wind turbine, can result in high costs, considering the difficulties involved in the replacement of such components. The paper presents a numerical and an analytical model of wind turbine main shaft bearings aimed at calculate their electrical impedance along with their experimental validation. These models provide useful criteria for the design of wind turbines lightning protection systems (LPS). In this respect, the paper presents also the development of a specific LPS for the protection of wind turbine bearings and the relevant effectiveness analysis obtained by means of experimental tests. Index Terms Lightning, Lightning protection systems, wind turbine, bearings.

HE increasing number of wind turbine installations in different countries makes their reliability of crucial importance. Due to the typical installation zones, lightning events represent one of the main causes of damages of these type of power plants. Direct and indirect events can indeed produce damages, and/or malfunctions, of electrical and mechanical components [1]. Damages statistics of wind turbine components has been analyzed in the literature (e.g. [2]) as well as the relevant risk analysis [3]. Concerning mechanical components, blades and bearings are certainly the most involved parts [2,4]. In particular, lightning damages produced on bearings located at the mechanical interface between rotating parts of wind
This work is supported by the Leitwind Department of Leitner S.p.A. A. Borghetti, C. A. Nucci, F. Napolitano and M. Paolone are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy. E-mail: {alberto.borghetti, carloalberto.nucci, fabio.napolitano, mario.paolone}@mail.ing.unibo.it. Fabio Fiamingo, Massimo Marzinotto and Carlo Mazzetti are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. E-mail: f.fiamingo@fastwebnet.it, maxmarzinotto@ieee.org, carlo.mazzetti@uniroma1.it. Heinz Dellago is with Leitner S.p.A., Italy. E-mail: dellago.heinz@leitnerlifts.com.

I. INTRODUCTION

the structure. Above IEC 62305-1 introduces terms and definitions, lightning parameters, damages due to lightning, basic criteria for protection and test parameters to simulate the effect of lightning on LPS components. IEC 62305-2 gives the risk assessment method and its evaluation; IEC 62305-3 is focused on protection measures to reduce physical damages as well as injuries of living beings due to touch and step voltages; IEC 62305-4 considers the protection against LEMP of electrical and electronic systems within the structures. It is important to underline that the above mentioned standards do not take into account the peculiarities of wind turbines due the fact that they cannot be considered as common structures. The wind turbines, in fact, are tall structures of up to more than 150 m in height often placed in very exposed regions to lightning. Additionally, they are composed by conductive parts in relative movement (e.g. blades and nacelle), what complicates the application of standard LPS principles. As known for structures exceeding 60 m in height, side flashes can occur and in this respect blades of wind turbines could be severely damaged. Additionally, the ground conductivity of typical wind turbine locations (i.e. coastal areas, hills or mountain ridges) is often relatively poor causing problems due to voltage rise of ground potential. Finally, the lightning current passing through bearing can cause serious damages on this component that require the development of specific LPS. In view of the above, standards IEC 62305 are not specifically developed for the protection of wind turbines. To partially solve this problem, the use of the 2002 IEC Technical Report (TR) 61400-24 Wind turbine generator systems- part 24: Lightning protection [17], can be suggested together with the above other mentioned standards. The TR 61400-24 starts from the same principles mentioned in the IEC 61024, 61662 and IEC 62305 series, recommending, on the base of statistical data on damages occurred to wind turbine systems, some general design solution to protect wind turbine installations. The absence of specific standardization in LPS of wind turbines has driven this contribution. III. EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF BEARING
ELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE

diameter 10 mm and vertex angle 3. An axial section of the test model is reported in Fig. 1. The frequency and time domain impedance measurements are performed between sliding contact connected to the main shaft and the external part of the cell. As above mentioned, the measurement refers to different conditions of radial and axial loads and shaft rotation speed. In the test cell the radial load is applied by means of two deep groove ball bearings (Fr in Fig. 1) and the axial load by means of a thrust ball bearing connected to the cell shaft (Fa in Fig. 1). The bearing pre-radial load is assured by screws that apply the mechanical load to the external ring of the bearing under test (Fpr in Fig. 1). All the loads are modified by adjusting the screws tightening force by means of a dynamometric key and by taking into account screws steps and typical friction coefficients. The shaft is driven by a DC motor and the speed is adjusted by controlling the armature voltage. Concerning the operation conditions of a wind turbine, the following typical operation modes may be distinguished: parked (turbine parked with locking bolts inserted); standing (idling condition without rotation); idling; partial load (power production below nominal speed); full operation (power production at nominal speed). The mechanical conditions referring to the wind turbine main shaft bearing relevant to the above mentioned operation modes are reported in Table I. Table II reports the equivalent mechanical conditions calculated for the reduced scale bearing by considering the scale factor 1:20.

A 1:20 reduced scale model of typical main shaft wind turbine bearings has been used to design and realize an experimental cell for the electrical characterization of the bearing electrical impedance. In view of the dependence of such an impedance to the mechanical load conditions, the cell has been designed to reproduce scaled mechanical forces, tiltmoment and rotation speed that appears in real scale main shaft bearings. Additionally, the cell design is suitable for the installation of main shaft paired bearings geometrically similar to that of real scale wind turbines for which the LPS has been developed. The adopted reduced scale bearing is composed by two paired single row roller bearings installed on a main shaft; each one contains 26 rollers of 18 mm height, maximum

Fig. 1. Reduced scale model set up for the experimental characterization of the bearings electrical impedance. TAB. I. LOAD AND SPEED CONDITIONS OF THE WIND TURBINE MAIN SHAFT
BEARING AS FUNCTION OF THE CONSIDERED DIFFERENT OPERATION CONDITIONS

Type of function Parked Standing Idling Partial load Full load

Axial Force (kN) 10 10 10 160 114

Radial force (kN) 275 275 275 275 275

Tilt moment (kNm) 10 10 10 350 400

Rotor speed (rpm) 0.0 0.0 3.0 16.5 22.5

% in 20 years 0.5 8.3 8.3 66.7 16.3

3 TAB. II. LOAD AND SPEED CONDITIONS OF THE REDUCED SCALE WIND TURBINE
MAIN SHAFT BEARING AS FUNCTION OF THE CONSIDERED DIFFERENT OPERATION CONDITIONS

Type of function ParkedStanding Idling Partial load Full load

Axial Force (N) 25 25 400 285

Radial force (N) 687 687 687 687

Tilt moment (Nm) 25 25 875 1000

Rotor speed (rpm) 0.0 60 330 450

The measurements of the bearing impedance are performed in the typical lightning current frequency range, namely 10 kHz 1 MHz, by means of a HP 4284A impedance analyzer that implements the four wire measurements technique. Fig. 2 shows the measured impedances of the reduced scale bearing model making reference to the conditions reported in Table II. For the partial and full load conditions, the 95% confidence intervals of the measured impedance magnitude are within 2% and within 0.5% for the measured impedance phase. Therefore the curves of Fig. 2 that refer to the measured bearing impedances in partial and full load conditions do not report the confidence intervals. The confidence intervals relevant to the parked-standing condition are relatively wide as they refer to ten different measurements made with different positions of the shaft.

The magnitude and phase diagrams relevant to the idling, partial and full load conditions show that the electrical behaviour of the bearing can be modelled, within the considered frequency range, by a capacitance whose value is not much influenced by rotor speed and axial force. Such a behaviour can be justified considering that the rotating parts of the bearing are in contact by means of the lubricant that typically presents dielectric characteristics. In the parked-standing mode, the bearing impedance shows an ohmic-inductive behaviour that can be justified considering that the bearing elements are in metallic contact due to the null rotation speed that does not allow for the formation of the lubricant film. IV. MODELS FOR THE PREDICTION OF THE ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOUR DUE TO LIGHTNING CURRENTS OF WIND TURBINE MAIN SHAFT BEARING The experimentally determined capacitive behaviour of the bearing impedance motivates the development of a numerical and an analytical model of it both aimed at determining the capacitance associated with the electrical structure composed by the bearing mechanical elements and by their lubricant. In particular, the first model is based on the application of the FEM (Finite Element Method), whilst the second one applies the electrical images theory. For the capacitance calculations, the geometry of the problem and the lubricant electric permittivity have to be known. Concerning this last quantity, due to high lubricant viscosity, IEC standard cell cannot be used for the its measurement. Therefore, a specific test cell has been developed and the estimated permittivity was equal to 2.79. Concerning the geometry of the bearing, the real scale one contains two paired single row roller bearings of 88 conical rollers of 65 mm height, maximum diameter 51.2 mm and vertex angle 2.5. The lubricant film thickness has been evaluated according to the elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication theory [18]. In case of radial load of 275 kN, outer ring radius equal to 750 mm, speed 16.5 rpm, and typical values for lubricant viscosity, the film thickness ranges between 0.94 and 1.4 m. Considering that both full scale and reduced scale bearingrollers are characterized by little vertex angle, they can be assumed as cylindrical elements allowing to study the problem using a 2-dimensional approach. However, a 3D have been also developed only using the FEM model. A. Finite element model The FEM model has been developed within the FEMLAB software environment [19] by means of both 3D and 2D approaches applied to solve an electrostatic problem. In particular, the 3D approach allows to take into account the real conical shape of rollers but, in view of high differences between the physical dimension of the rollers and of the lubricant thickness that result in a limited FEM-mesh space resolution, it provides results characterized by high uncertainty levels. On the other hand the 2D approach does

a)

b) Fig. 2. Electrical impedances of the reduced scale bearing model making reference to the different mechanical conditions reported in Table II; a) bearing electrical impedance magnitude, b) bearing electrical impedance phase.

not allow to take into account the real conical shape of rollers but allows to perform more precise calculations characterizer by higher FEM-mesh space resolution. One of the advantages of the FEM model is that it allows to take into account the capacitances related the roller elements and the inner/outer rings and also to the capacitances associated to adjacent rollers. In order to save computation time, we have defined an appropriate elementary domain that refers to a single roller element. Such an elementary domain allows to calculate the capacitance of the entire bearing by multiplying the energy associated with its electrostatic field by the number of rollers. The definition of in 2D spatial domain of such an elementary element is obtained by intersecting the 3D elementary domain with a perpendicular-axial plane in correspondence of its half height. Fig. 3 shows the 3D elementary domain referring to the full scale bearing roller.

equation (3). In particular, proper values of the time constant T has to be selected in order to avoid ill-conditioned discretized FEM numerical formulation. The value of 10-11 s, greater than the charge relaxation time of steel, has been chosen for the time constant T. The boundary conditions assumed for such a calculation are the following: (i) inner and outer rings at different electric potentials, namely 1 V and 0 V; (ii) interface between metallic roller surface and lubricant: continuity of electric field; (iii) side boundaries: null tangential electric field. Fig. 4 shows the 2D FEM solution reporting the amplitude of the electric potential in the wind turbine bearing elementary domain.

Fig. 3. 3D elementary domain of the full scale roller element bearing. Dimensions in meters.

Fig. 4. FEM calculated electrical potential (p.u.) inside the 2D elementary domain of the wind turbine real scale bearing considering lubricant thickness referring to normal operational conditions. Dimensions in meters.

The FEM model has been adopted in order to integrate the continuity equation (1) suitably generalized in order to include metallic domains. In particular, the FEM model approximates the time derivative of charge distribution with the expression (2) that provides expression (3) similar to the classical Poissons equation (4). (1) divJ = t 0 = (2) t T
= div + gradV T T div[ ( gradV )] =

The FEM numerical solution allows to estimate the capacitance associate to an elementary domain by integrating the calculated electric energy density: 2 (5) C = 2 we dS l V S

(3) (4)

Where: is the space charge density, 0 is a given space charge density at t=0 and T is a time constant related to the magnitudes of metallic elements conductivity and dielectric relative permittivity. With T the electrostatic solution is provided by

Where: V is the electric potential difference, S is the surface of the lubricant in the elementary domain, we is the electric energy density associated with the surface dS and l is the length of the bearing rolling element. Assuming the above estimated lubricant film thickness in the order of 1 m we have obtained a total capacitance of the wind turbine shaft bearing equal to 100 nF. In order to validate the developed FEM model, its results have been compared with experimentally determined capacitances of the real and reduced scale wind turbine main shaft bearing. Such measurements have been obtained by replacing the lubricant between the outer ring and the rolling elements by means of plastic sheets characterized by known thickness and relative permittivity and short circuiting the

inner ring with rolling elements. In particular, the thickness of the plastic sheets is equal to 250 m and 70 m for real and reduced scale bearings respectively, whilst the plastic paper relative permittivity is equal to 3.3. The experimentally measured capacitances are obtained by averaging the capacitances measured at different frequencies (10 kHz to 1 MHz) by means of a HP 4284A impedance analyzer. Table III shows the comparison between the FEM model and measurement results and as it can be seen a good agreement has been found.

R2 is the inner/outer ring radius. It is worth noting that to calculate the capacitance between roller element and outer ring, radius R1 has to be assumed with negative sign. By considering that diameters of wind turbine main shaft bearing rings are very large (in the order of 1.5 m), very similar results of those obtained with (6) can be obtained by approximating such an equation for R2 . We then obtain (8) which gives the expression of coefficient . h (8) = R1 Where: h is the distance between roller axis and the ring.

R1

R1

R2

R2

Fig. 5. FEM calculated electrical potential (p.u.) inside the 2D elementary domain of the wind turbine real scale bearing considering the measurement set-up with controlled plastic thickness inserted between the outer ring and rolling elements. Dimensions in meters. TABLE III. COMPARISON BETWEEN FEM MODEL AND MEASURED
CAPACITANCES OF WIND TURBINE MAIN SHAFT BEARING

Fig. 6. Image theory geometries for the definition of the two capacitances existing between one roller element and the inner/outer bearing rings.

Measured capacitance for the reduced scale bearing model 200 pF

FEM calculated capacitance for the reduced scale bearing model 201 pF

Measured capacitance for the full scale bearing model 8.6 nF

FEM calculated capacitance for the full scale bearing model 7.6 nF

B. Image theory model According to the image theory principle, the electrostatic field in the homogeneous dielectric region external to two cylindrical conductive surfaces, parallel and of infinite length, is the same due to two linear charge distributions that make the two cylindrical surfaces equipotential. This allows to define the two capacitances existing between one roller element and the inner or outer bearing ring (see Fig. 6): 2 0 r (6) C= ln + 2 1

The applied image theory has been applied to two parallel cylindrical conductors therefore it does not allow to take into account the capacitances associated to adjacent rolling elements, so it may provide capacitance values slightly greater then the FEM model, nevertheless the results become closer to FEM ones when the film thickness become smaller. Table IV shows a comparison between the results obtained by means of the image theory model and measurements obtained making reference to the same experimental conditions adopted to validate the FEM. As it can be seen, also for the image theory model, a good agreement between measurements and simulations has been found.
TABLE IV. COMPARISON BETWEEN IMAGE MODEL AND MEASURED
CAPACITANCES OF WIND TURBINE MAIN SHAFT BEARING

Measured capacitance for the reduced scale bearing model 200 pF

D (R + R
2 2 1

2 2

Analytical calculated capacitance for the reduced scale bearing model 201 pF

Measured capacitance for the full scale bearing model 8.6 nF

Analytical calculated capacitance for the full scale bearing model 7.9 nF

2 R1 R2

(7)

V. DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC LIGHTNING PROTECTION

SYSTEMS OF WIND TURBINES MAIN SHAFT BEARINGS

where: r is the lubricant relative permittivity; D is the distance between the axes of the roller and the inner/outer ring; R1 is the roller radius;

Aim of LPS of the wind turbine main shaft bearing is to provide alternative low-impedance paths to the lightning currents. Such an LPS is effective if the down conductor impedance, which is in parallel to the bearing capacitance, is lower enough to reduce, with a lightning current

corresponding to the desired protection level, the voltage across the main shaft bearing to a value lower than the lubricant dielectric strength. Let assume that the bearing is characterized by the capacitance C and that its LPS by the impedance ZLPS. The total impedance is given by: 1 (9) Z= 1 jC + Z LPS
In the hypothesis of effective LPS, we have that 1 and we can assume that Z ZLPS. Z LPS < < C By denoting the lubricant thickness with and its critical breakdown electric field with Ec, the critical flashover voltage of the bearing lubricant is 2 Ec. Therefore, by assuming a maximum lightning current amplitude I related to the LPS efficiency level, we can infer for maximum LPS impedance as follow: 2 Ec (10) Z LPS max = I

means of frequency domain measurements and current-pulse injection tests. Fig. 7 shows the measured impedances of the reduced scale bearing model making reference to the full load operation condition with and without the LPS. Fig. 8 shows the current-pulse tests measurements in which the effectiveness of the developed LPS is proven by: (i) the coincidence between the injected and LPS currents and (ii) the absence of discontinuities in the LPS current related to lubricant flashovers.
200

LPS current
150

Injected current

Current [A]

100

50

-50 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Time [s]

Fig. 8. Measurement results referring to the current-pulse tests performed on the reduced scale bearing model in presence of the LPS.

VI. CONCLUSIONS The analysis carried out on main shaft bearings of wind turbines object of this work and the dielectric characteristics of typical lubricants, let us conclude that the electrical behaviour of such a mechanical component in the typical frequency range of lightning currents may be approximated by a capacitance. This above inference has been verified on a reduced scale experimental test set-up which experimental results have been used for the development, and validation, of two bearing electrical models, namely a numerical FEM and an analytical one. The value of the bearing capacitance, along with its estimation, has been demonstrated to be crucial for the design of appropriate LPS of wind turbine main shaft bearings. The results obtained by means of the developed models have been used for the definition of a specific bearing LPS which effectiveness has been demonstrated via frequency domain and current-pulse experimental tests. VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
b) Fig. 7. Comparisons of magnitude (a) and phase (b) of the impedance measured with and without LPS between the shaft and the stator of the reduced scale model.

a)

Helpful discussions had with Prof. Andrea Cristofolini are thankfully acknowledged. VIII. REFERENCES

A sliding contacts LPS has been developed for the reduced scale bearing model whose impedance have been tuned according to equation (10). The effectiveness of such an LPS has been verified by means of experimental tests performed by

[1] [2]

I. Cotton, N. Jenkins, N. Hatziargyriou, M. Lorentzou, S. Haigh, M. Hnacock, Lightning Production of wind turbines, A designers guide to best practice, First edition, 1999. T. Sorensen, F.V. Jensen, N. Raben, J. Lykkegaard, J. Saxov, Lightning protection for offshore wind turbines, Proc. Of the CIRED 16th

7 International Conference and Exhibition on Electricity Distribution (IEE Conf. Publ. No. 482), 18-21 June 2001, Vol. 4. A. Kern and F. Krichel, Considerations about the lightning protection system of mains independent renewable energy hybrid-systems practical experiences, Journal of Electrostatics, Vol. 60, Issues 2-4, March 2004, pp. 257-263. O. Celi, A. Pigini, Evaluation of Damage Caused by Lightning Current Flowing Through Bearing, IEA: Lightning Protection of Wind Turbine Generator Systems and EMC Problems in the Associated Control System. Pp. 85-94, IEA Annex XI, 26th Meeting of Experts, Cologne Monzese, Milan, Italy, March 8-9, 1994. IEC 61312-1, Protection against lightning electromagnetic impulse, Part 1, General principles, 1995. IEC 61024-1, Protection of structure against lightning - Part 1: General principles 1 Ed.1990 IEC 61024-1-1, Protection of structure against lightning - Part 1: General principles - Section 1: Guide A: Selection of protection levels for lightning protection systems ed.1998 IEC 61024-1-2, Protection of structures against lightning - Part 1: General principles - Section 2: Guide B: Design, installation, maintenance and inspection of lightning protection systems,1998 [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] IEC 61312-1, Protection against lightning electromagnetic impulse, Part 1: General principles, 1995 IEC 61312-2, Protection against lightning electromagnetic impulse, Part 2: Shielding of structures, bonding inside structures and earthing, 1997 IEC 61312-3: First edition, Protection against lightning electromagnetic impulse (LEMP) Part 3 Requirements of surge protective devices (SPDs), 1999 IEC TR2 61662 Assessment of the risk of damage due to lightning 041995 IEC 62305-1, Ed.1: Protection against lightning-Part Part 1: General principles 2006 IEC 62305-2, Ed.1: Protection against lightning-Part 2: Risk management 2006 IEC 62305-3, Ed.1: Protection against lightning-Part 3: Physical damages to structures and life hazard 2006 IEC 62305-4, Ed.1: Protection against lightning-Part 4: Electrical and electronic systems within structures 2006 IEC 61400-24, Wind Turbine Generator System, 1999. D. Dowson, G.R. Higginson, Elasto-Hydrodinamic lubrification, Pergamon Press, 1977. FEMLAB, Modeling Guide, 1994 - 2004, Comsol AB, Sweden.

[3]

[4]

[5] [6] [7] [8]