The 2014 Wind Turbine Tribology Seminar seminar was held Wednesday October 29, 2014 through Friday October 31, 2014 at Argonne National Laboratory. This event was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind and Water Power Technologies Office and organized by Argonne National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Special thanks to the SKF Group for sponsorship of the welcoming dinner.

Sessions

Introductions

• Atmosphere to Electrons Initiative
  Mike Derby and Jim Ahlgrimm, U.S. Department of Energy
• Current Challenges in Wind Turbine Tribology
  Gary Doll, University of Akron

Tribology Fundamentals

Session chair: Gary Doll

• Lubrication and Failure Mechanisms Controlling Wind Turbine Technology
  Vern Wedeven, Wedeven Associates
• Addressing Wind Turbine Tribological Challenges with Surface Engineering
  Gary Doll, University of Akron
• Adhesive Wear on Roller Ends and Ribs in Wind Turbine Gearbox Bearings
  Paul Baker, Frontier Pro and Scott Eatherton, AES
• What’s Material Got to Do With It? Reliability of Wind Turbine Gearbox
  Layo Ajayi, Argonne National Laboratory
• Modeling Tribological Contacts in Wind Turbine Gearboxes
  Nathan Bolander, Sentient Science

Lubrication Fundamentals

Session chair: Shawn Sheng

• Gear Oil Formulation in Wind
  Jon Leather, Castrol
• Wind Turbine Grease Formulation
  Jaime Spagnoli, Exxon Mobil

Tribological Damage in Wind Turbines

Session chair: Shawn Sheng

• Gearbox Reliability Database Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
  Shawn Sheng, NREL
• True Brinelling, False Brinelling, and Fretting Corrosion: What’s the Difference?
  Bob Errichello, GEARTECH

White Etching Crack Bearing Failure

Session chair: Aaron Greco

• White-Etching Crack Failure Overview, Tomography Analysis, and Test Development
  Aaron Greco, Argonne National Laboratory
• Premature Bearing Failures in Wind Applications and White Etching Cracks (WEC)
  Kenred Stadler, SKF Group
• Tribological Analysis of White Etching Cracks (WEC) Failures in Rolling Element Bearing
  Arnaud Ruellen, INSA de Lyon
• White Etching Crack Root Causes and Solutions
  Walter Holweger, Schaeffler
• White Etch Areas: Metallurgical Characterization and Atomistic Modeling
  Scott Hyde, Timken
• Thru-hard versus Carburized Bearings: Which are More Robust in WTs?
  Bob Errichello, GEARTECH
• Investigation of White Etching Crack (WEC) Formation Mechanisms Under Non-hydrogen Charged Test Conditions
  Alex Richardson, Afton Chemical (representing University of South Hampton)
• Field Examples of Axial Cracked Bearings in Wind Turbine Gearboxes
  Paul John Baker, FrontierPro Services

Tribology in Application

Session chair: Vern Wedevan

• Bearing and Gear Contact Stimulations for Tribology Performance Mapping in Engineering Terms
  Vern Wedeven, Wedeven Associates
• Review of Contamination Control Technologies for Wind Turbine Gearboxes
  Bill Needleman, Filtration Sciences
• The AGMA Peer Review of ISO/TR 15144-1, Calculation of Micropitting Load Capacity, Part 1, Part 2

  Bob Errichello, GEARTECH