How Clean Steel Can Propel Your Cost Savings

12/11/2011 11:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Rob Merrell |

Timken steel is nearly as valuable as gold to producers of wind turbines. Here’s why we believe this: gearboxes located inside a wind turbine require about 10,000 pounds of steel. Gearboxes are particularly costly to repair or replace, so use of high-quality steel in them can increase turbine reliability – and help you save money. Read More+

Wind Turbine Bearing Replacement or Remanufacture ... Which Option is Best For You?

10/3/2011 8:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Brad Baldwin |

Your wind turbine is down. You’re in the process of diagnosing the health of your bearings. And you know that both the crane-rental and downtime costs can be substantial. It’s critical that you make the right decision so that once your turbine is up and running, it can stay that way for as long as possible. So, what’s your better option – bearing remanufacture or replacement? What about upgrade solutions such as wear-resistant bearings? Timken can help you make the decision that’s right for you.  Read More+

Timken Leads the Way for Wind-Turbine Bearing Testing, Customers to Benefit

8/31/2011 1:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Hans Landin |

Timken is building an $11.8 million Wind Energy Research and Development Center with Stark State College in Canton, Ohio, USA, and other Ohio-based entities. The center will span 18,000 square feet (1672.254 square meters) and, as a fully dynamic wind-turbine bearing testing facility, provide vital knowledge for the development of power-transmission component technologies to the industry – all around the world. Ultimately, it will help us create better, more reliable and cost-effective designs for you. Read More+

Does Increased Wind-Turbine Uptime Sound Appealing? Timken’s New UltraWind P1 Wind Energy Seal Can Help

7/26/2011 8:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Rick Borowski |

Timken has harnessed polyurethane’s abrasion-resistant properties in a special seal design to help promote longer wear life in wind applications. Introducing the new UltraWind P1 Wind Energy Seal. When compared to other standard elastomer seal materials used on wind-turbine bearings, such as NBR (nitrile) and HNBR (hydrogenated nitrile), the abrasion resistance of Timken’s P1 polyurethane material is three to four times greater, as determined by standard abrasion-resistance bench tests.  Read More+

Timken Solution for Premature Bearing Failures a Hit at AWEA 2011 WindPower Show

6/20/2011 5:00:00 PM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Hans Landin |

Many of the thousands of attendees at this year’s WindPower Conference & Exhibition, hosted by the American Wind Energy Association, told us that their non-Timken main-shaft and gearbox bearings are having to be replaced well short of their 20-year design life. Maybe you’re one of the many who we talked with at the show. While other competitive brands were installed as original equipment on these wind turbines, we understand why the bearings failed prematurely and can offer a new and powerful solution – Timken® wear-resistant bearings – and a whole new suite of aftermarket upgrades.  Read More+

Tired of Wind Turbine Bearings That Fail Prematurely? We Can Help!

4/28/2011 2:10:00 PM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Hans Landin |

Many wind turbines are nearing the end of their warranty periods. Others are experiencing premature bearing failure. Unplanned wind turbine maintenance and downtime may be unavoidable and costly. Timken can help.  Read More+

High Accuracy At Low Speeds: Timken's New Online Intelligence System For Wind Turbines Acts As 'Early Warning' System

3/28/2011 9:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Ron Kittle |

What if you could identify a wind turbine bearing problem before it leads to failure, especially in low-speed applications? Think of the cost savings and convenience early detection would provide. Read More+

How to Battle the ‘Fog of War’ with Condition Monitoring

2/22/2011 8:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Rick Brooks |

Poor communication and incomplete and untimely data can easily cloud your ability to get peak performance from your wind turbine. You need a comprehensive maintenance plan based on reliable data. But how can you know if your machinery is running well when it's hundreds of feet in the air? Remote, online condition monitoring may be the answer. It can help you stay a step ahead of component failures so you can increase turbine uptime and profitability.

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Getting it all: Total systems approach increases productivity, not cost of ownership

1/14/2011 8:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Doug Lucas |

The Problem:

Gearbox and main-shaft bearing performance is affected by many influences. Certainly bearing type and design play a critical role, but load dynamics, temperatures, lubrication type, additives and debris contamination can also affect bearing performance. You can take control.

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Are your gearboxes failing prematurely? Timken may have the explanation and solution.

12/13/2010 1:00:00 AM | Bearing Applications | Comments | Gary Doll |

Brittle flaking, micropitting and smearing may be causing your wind-turbine gearbox bearings to fail prematurely. These are serious symptoms of a deeper problem -- thin lubricant films and roller/raceway skidding. Timken's advanced engineered-surface technology may be the answer. Our solution uses a combination of isotropic superfinishing and a wear-resistant coating applied to rollers to produce exceptionally good wear resistance.

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Wear-Resistant Bearings from Timken Help Reduce Main-Shaft Downtime and Repair Costs

10/11/2010 9:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Mike Kotzalas |

Once commonly used to support wind-turbine main shafts, spherical roller bearings are now experiencing wear damage that reduces serviceable life. Timken innovated a new, unique wear-resistant bearing solution to address this wear. Find out more.

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Bearing Solutions for Planetary Gearboxes

7/19/2010 10:00:00 AM | Bearing Applications | Comments | Chris Marks |

Machine reliability is a major challenge for the wind energy industry, especially as turbines become leaner and more integrated. Timken's 110 years of engineering expertise and technology leadership are helping drive innovations -- including technological advances with gearboxes as well as gear and bearing reliability. Much of the focus on how this factors into the design of speed-increasing gearboxes is related to the planetary stage. The latest standards for IEC and ABMA recommend two candidates for bearing solutions at the planet position: cylindrical roller bearings or tapered roller bearings. Get the detail you need about Timken's approach to bearing solutions for planetary gearboxes by reading more. Read More+

New Timken Innovations Showcased at AWEA WindPower 2010 Show in Dallas

6/20/2010 11:00:00 AM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Hans Landin |

Many of you stopped by the Timken booth at WindPower 2010 and had a chance to see, firsthand, Timken’s latest wind energy innovations, including:

• Timken® UltraWind Tapered Roller Bearings
• Timken® Wind Energy Lubrication System
• Timken® Wear-Resistant Bearings
• Timken® Planet Pac and Integrated Flexpins

We appreciated the opportunity to meet and discuss ways to work together to develop advanced, next-generation wind turbine technology. If you weren’t able to attend the show, or would like refresher, here’s an opportunity to learn more. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you at HUSUM 2010, Sept. 21-26 and next May at AWEA WindPower 2011 in Anaheim. Read More …  Read More+

AWEA 2010 Exhibition Preview: Timken's Solutions for Sustainable Wind Power

5/18/2010 12:00:00 PM | Sustainable Solutions for Wind Energy | Comments | Hans Landin |

Visit Timken at booth No. 2803, May 23-26 at the 2010 WindPower Conference and Exhibition in Dallas.

At Timken, we work hard to ensure that our brand stands for high quality and outstanding performance. We believe that our application knowledge combined with extensive capabilities in bearing technology, manufacturing, engineering and distribution uniquely position us to provide our customers with smart, cost-effective friction management and power transmission solutions … solutions that improve total system performance and outperform the competition. Read More+

Using integrated flexpin technology to help increase gear box reliability

3/16/2010 4:00:00 PM | Bearing Applications | Comments | Jerry Fox |

I spend a lot of time thinking about gear box technology for wind turbines. In my position, I’ve had the opportunity to review engineering layouts of many conventional and new gear box designs – some of which are still on the drawing board. Modern day innovation is at work in the wind energy industry, no doubt, but virtually all designs continue to include some form of a planetary gearing system. While there are some really good gear box designs that still adhere to conventional practice, there are also advanced concepts that are pushing the envelope. These designs incorporate new technologies that are intended to attack failure modes to help increase reliability and performance. One example of this is flexible pin technology.  Read More+

Optimizing parallel-shaft system performance through reliable bearing designs

2/18/2010 11:00:00 AM | Bearing Applications | Comments | Jerry Fox |

I recently read a report about an offshore wind farm project and how poorly performing gearbox bearings used in the intermediate and high-speed shaft positions resulted in unplanned work, negatively impacting O&M costs. Corrective actions were made but the example reinforces how important correct gearbox bearing designs can be to an investment. Tapered roller bearing designs used in the locating positions of the gearbox can help to maximize the bearing’s load carrying capacity, center the shaft for improved sealing and gear contact and eliminate opportunities for roller skidding or raceway smearing. Read More+

Higher bearing ratings for lean turbine design

1/12/2010 3:00:00 PM | Bearing Ratings | Comments | Jerry Fox |

It used to be that only ISO ratings could be applied to calculating bearing L10 life. Now, Germanischer Lloyd has approved Timken bearing ratings for Timken tapered and cylindrical roller bearings in wind turbine applications. Join the discussion on how these higher ratings can offer new opportunities for downsizing the power train and creating leaner, more competitive designs. Read More+