JP2008032147A - Rotating shaft supporting structure of wind power generator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rotating shaft supporting structure of a wind power generator simplifying fitting work and replacement work of a bearing supporting a rotating shaft of the wind power generator. <P>SOLUTION: The rotating shaft supporting structure of the wind power generator is provided with a blade 15 rotating while receiving wind, a spindle 16 as the rotating shaft rotating in accompany with rotation of the blade 15, and a rolling bearing 31 rotatably supporting the spindle 16. The rolling bearing 31 is provided with an inner ring, an outer ring, and a plurality of rolling elements arranged between the inner ring and the outer ring. At least one of the inner ring and the outer ring is formed by connecting a plurality of circular arc-shaped members in the circumferential direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a rotary shaft support structure for a rotary shaft used in a wind power generator, for example, a main shaft, a low-speed shaft, an intermediate shaft, and a high-speed shaft of a speed increaser.

  A conventional wind power generator is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-207517 (Patent Document 1). The wind power generator described in the publication is rotated by a support base, a nacelle for storing main components arranged on the support base in a horizontally swingable manner via a swivel bearing, and a bearing fixed to the bearing housing. A main shaft freely supported, a blade on one end side of the main shaft, and a speed increaser and a generator on the other end side of the main shaft are provided.

  In the wind power generator configured as described above, the main shaft rotates along with the blades that rotate by receiving wind, the rotation of the main shaft is increased by the speed increaser, and the electric power is converted by the generator. The main shaft of the wind power generator receives a radial load and a moment load caused by the weight of the blade in addition to an axial load caused by the blade receiving wind. For this reason, a self-aligning roller bearing or a self-aligning roller bearing that can be used in an environment in which a radial load, an axial load, and a moment load are simultaneously applied is used as the bearing that supports the main shaft.

In general, a bearing that supports a main shaft of a wind power generator is fixed by fitting an inner ring and a main shaft, and an outer ring and a housing, respectively. In particular, the inner ring dimension of the inner ring is set slightly smaller than the outer diameter dimension of the main shaft. Called “shrink fit”).
JP 2005-207517 A

  When the inner ring is incorporated into the main shaft by shrink fitting, a step of heating the inner ring, a step of fitting the inner ring into a predetermined position of the main shaft, and a step of cooling the inner ring and the main shaft are required. Moreover, in order to prevent a bearing from rusting by the dew condensation which arises in a cooling process, a rust prevention process is needed. Therefore, the shrink fitting requires a heating / cooling device and requires a large number of work steps and a long working time.

  In particular, when replacing a bearing with a large diameter rotating shaft such as the main shaft of a wind power generator, the main shaft must be lowered from the nacelle to the ground, which requires many man-hours and high costs. Work cost is required.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a rotating shaft support structure for a wind power generator that simplifies the work of assembling and replacing the bearings that support the rotating shaft of the wind power generator.

  A rotating shaft support structure for a wind power generator according to the present invention includes a blade that rotates by receiving wind, a rotating shaft that rotates as the blade rotates, and a rolling bearing that rotatably supports the rotating shaft. When attention is paid to the rolling bearing, it includes an inner ring, an outer ring, and a plurality of rolling elements arranged between the inner ring and the outer ring. At least one of the inner ring and the outer ring is formed by connecting a plurality of arc-shaped members in the circumferential direction.

  Preferably, the rolling bearing further includes a cage that holds an interval between adjacent rolling elements. The cage is formed by connecting a plurality of arc-shaped cage segments in the circumferential direction.

  In one embodiment, the rotating shaft is a main shaft whose one end is fixed to the blade and rotates together with the blade.

  Each of the inner ring, the outer ring, and the cage constituting the rolling bearing having the above-described configuration is formed by connecting a plurality of arc-shaped members in the circumferential direction. Therefore, these components can be incorporated from the radial direction of the rotating shaft. As a result, the fitting process such as shrink fitting can be omitted in the work for assembling the bearing to the rotating shaft, so that the number of work steps and the work time can be reduced. Further, since the cooling step can be omitted from the assembling work, rusting of the bearing can be prevented.

  According to the present invention, since the inner ring, the outer ring, and the cage can be incorporated from the radial direction of the rotating shaft, the structure for supporting the rotating shaft of the wind power generator that simplifies the work of assembling the bearing into the rotating shaft of the wind power generator. Can be obtained.

  With reference to FIGS. 1-5, the wind power generator 11 and the self-aligning roller bearing 31 which employ | adopted the rotating shaft support structure which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention are demonstrated. 1 and 2 are diagrams showing the internal structure of the wind power generator 11, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a self-aligning roller bearing 31 that supports the main shaft 16 of the wind power generator 11, and FIG. 4 is a self-aligning roller bearing. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the abutting portion of the inner ring members 32a and 32b of the self-aligning roller bearing 31. FIG.

  First, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the wind power generator 11 includes a support base 12, a swivel bearing 13, a nacelle 14, a blade 15, a main shaft 16 as a rotating shaft, and a speed increaser 17. The generator 18, the bearing housing 19, a self-aligning roller bearing 31 as a main shaft support bearing, a turning motor 20, and a speed reducer 21 are provided.

  The nacelle 14 is installed on the support 12 via a swivel bearing 13 and can be swiveled horizontally by a turning motor 20 and a speed reducer 21. Moreover, it functions as a housing that accommodates the main shaft 16, the speed increaser 17, the power generator 18, the self-aligning roller bearing 31, the turning motor 20, the speed reducer 21, and the like, which are main components of the wind power generator 11.

  The blade 15 is fixed to one end of the main shaft 16 and receives wind to rotate. One end of the main shaft 16 is connected to the blade 15 and the other end is connected to the speed increaser 17, and the rotation of the blade 15 is transmitted to the generator 18 via the speed increaser 17. Further, it is rotatably supported by a self-aligning roller bearing 31 incorporated in the bearing housing 19.

  A large axial load is applied to the self-aligning roller bearing 31 by wind force received by the blade 15, and a large radial load and a large moment load are applied by the weight of the blade 15 and the like. Therefore, as a spindle support bearing used in such an environment, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, self-aligning provided with an inner ring 32, an outer ring 33, a plurality of spherical rollers 34, and a cage 35. A roller bearing 31 is employed.

  On the outer diameter surface of the inner ring 32, there are two rows of raceway surfaces 32c, 32d, a center rod 32e between the two rows of raceway surfaces 32c, 32d, and outer rods 32f at both axial ends. The inner ring 32 is formed by connecting arc-shaped inner ring members 32a and 32b in the circumferential direction.

  The outer ring 33 has a concave spherical surface as a whole and functions as a rolling surface 33c. The outer ring 33 is constituted by connecting arc-shaped outer ring members 33a and 33b in the circumferential direction.

  The spherical roller 34 has a rolling surface 34a that contacts the raceway surfaces 32c, 32d, and 33c of the inner ring 32 and the outer ring 33. The rolling surface 34a has a spherical shape along the raceway surfaces 32c, 32d, and 33c. The cage 35 is a ring-shaped member, and has a plurality of pockets for accommodating the spherical rollers 34, and holds the interval between the adjacent spherical rollers 34. The cage 35 is formed by connecting arc-shaped cage segments 35a and 35b in the circumferential direction, and is provided separately on the left and right track surfaces 32c and 32d.

  Next, a procedure for incorporating the self-aligning roller bearing 31 into the main shaft of the wind power generator 11 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the spherical roller 34 is accommodated in each pocket of the cage 35 in advance. Next, the outer ring member 33a on one side, the cage segment 35a, and the inner ring member 32a are placed in this order on the bearing housing 19a, and the main shaft 16 is assembled thereon. Further, the inner ring member 32b, the cage segment 35b, and the outer ring member 33b on the other side are placed, and the bearing housings 19a and 19b are fixed.

  Note that the inner ring member 32 is desirably fixedly connected to the adjacent inner ring members 32a and 32b by an arbitrary fixing means from the viewpoint of preventing a gap from being formed at the abutting portion. For example, a ring may be fitted into the outer diameter surface of the outer flange 32f and fixed, or a bolt hole may be provided in each of the inner ring members 32a and 32b and both may be fixed by a bolt or the like. On the other hand, since the outer ring members 32a and 32b are fixed to the bearing housing 19, they need not be fixed. The cage segments 35a and 35b do not need to be connected to each other, and it is desirable to provide a gap between adjacent cage segments in consideration of thermal expansion and the like.

  By incorporating the self-aligning roller bearing 31 from the radial direction of the main shaft 16 as in the above configuration, the fitting process such as shrink fitting can be omitted from the bearing assembling process. This greatly simplifies the work of assembling the bearing. In particular, since the fitting process can be omitted, even when the self-aligning roller bearing 31 of the main shaft 16 is replaced, it is possible to work in the nacelle 14 without lowering the main shaft 16 to the ground. Furthermore, the rusting of the self-aligning roller bearing 31 can be prevented by omitting the cooling process from the work of assembling the bearing.

  In the rotary shaft support structure having the above-described configuration, the bearing housing 19 is also divided in the radial direction, so that the assembling property of the self-aligning roller bearing 31 is further improved.

  Next, the shape of the abutting portion of the inner ring members 32a and 32b shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, since this can be similarly applied to the abutting portions of the outer ring members 33a and 33b, detailed description will be omitted.

  The inner ring members 32a and 32b are obtained by dividing the annular inner ring 32 with a dividing line extending in the axial direction. Therefore, from the viewpoint of productivity of the inner ring members 32a and 32b and the viewpoint of maintaining smooth rotation of the spherical roller 34 passing on the dividing line, various shapes can be considered for the dividing line formed at the abutting portion.

  First, from the viewpoint of productivity of the inner ring members 32a and 32b, it is desirable that the dividing line 40 linearly extend in parallel to the axial direction. However, since the dividing line 40 is formed at the same position in the circumferential direction on the left and right raceway surfaces 32c and 32d, this position is the load region of the spindle 16 (“a relatively large load is applied in the circumferential direction of the spindle 16”). If it is disposed in the “loaded region”, smooth rotation of the spherical roller 34 may be hindered.

  Accordingly, the dividing line 41 as another embodiment includes axial dividing lines 41a and 41b extending in the axial direction at different positions in the circumferential direction on the left and right raceway surfaces 32c and 32d, and a center rod 32e in the circumferential direction. It is comprised by the circumferential direction dividing line 41c extended and connected to the left and right axial direction dividing lines 41a and 41b.

  Thus, by making the positions of the axial dividing lines 41a and 41b different from each other on the left and right track surfaces 32c and 32d, at least one of the left and right track surfaces 32c and 32d is smooth at all positions on the circumference. Therefore, the rotation of the self-aligning roller bearing 31 becomes smooth.

  The axial dividing lines 41a and 41b may be parallel to the axial direction. However, from the viewpoint of maintaining smooth rotation of the spherical roller 34, it is desirable that the axial dividing lines 41a and 41b be inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the axial direction. .

  In addition, the shape of the dividing line of the inner ring members 32a and 32b is not limited to the dividing lines 40 and 41 shown in FIG. 5, and any shape can be adopted.

  In the above embodiment, the inner ring 32, the outer ring 33, and the retainer 35 are each composed of two members. However, if at least one of them is divided, the effect of the present invention can be obtained. Can do. In addition, in order to obtain the effect of the present invention, each component can be divided into two or more arbitrary numbers. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to a self-aligning roller bearing in which the retainer 35 is omitted and a full roller type is adopted.

  Moreover, although the self-aligning roller bearing 31 in each said embodiment showed the example of double row | line | column, it is not restricted to this, A single row | line | column may be sufficient and a multi-row with three or more raceway surfaces is sufficient. It may be a bearing.

  In each of the above embodiments, an example of the self-aligning roller bearing 31 is shown as a rolling bearing that supports the main shaft 16 of the wind power generator 11. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a tapered roller bearing, a cylindrical roller bearing, Regardless of whether the rolling element is a roller or a ball, such as a needle roller bearing, a deep groove ball bearing, an angular ball bearing, and a four-point contact ball bearing, any rolling bearing having a bearing ring can be employed.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to the main shaft support structure of a wind power generator has been shown. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to other rotating shaft support structures of a wind power generator. It is possible to apply. For example, the effect of the present invention can be obtained even when applied to the low speed shaft (input shaft), the intermediate shaft, the high speed shaft (output shaft), and the like of the speed increaser 17.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described with reference to drawings, this invention is not limited to the thing of embodiment shown in figure. Various modifications and variations can be made to the illustrated embodiment within the same range or equivalent range as the present invention.

  The present invention is advantageously used for a rotating shaft support structure of a wind power generator.

It is a figure which shows the wind generator which employ | adopted the spindle support structure which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is an illustration side view of the wind power generator shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the self-aligning roller bearing which supports the rotating shaft of the wind power generator shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the procedure which incorporates the self-aligning roller bearing shown in FIG. 3 in the main axis | shaft of a wind power generator. It is an enlarged view of the division | segmentation part of the inner ring | wheel for a self-aligning roller bearing shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Wind generator, 12 Support stand, 13 Rotating seat shaft, 14 Nacelle, 15 Blade, 16 Main shaft, 17 Speed up gear, 18 Generator, 19 Bearing housing, 20 Rotating motor, 21 Reducer, 31 Spherical roller bearing , 32 Inner ring, 32a, 32b Inner ring member, 32c, 32d, 33c Raceway surface, 32e, 32f 鍔, 33 Outer ring, 33a, 33b Outer ring member, 34 Spherical roller, 34a Rolling surface, 35 Cage, 40, 41 Dividing line 41a, 41b Axis dividing line, 41c Circumferential dividing line.

Claims (3)

A blade that rotates in response to the wind;
A rotating shaft that rotates as the blade rotates;
A rotary shaft support structure of a wind power generator comprising a rolling bearing that rotatably supports the rotary shaft,
The rolling bearing includes an inner ring, an outer ring, and a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the inner ring and the outer ring,
A rotating shaft support structure for a wind power generator, wherein at least one of the inner ring and the outer ring is formed by connecting a plurality of arc-shaped members in the circumferential direction. The rolling bearing further includes a cage that holds an interval between the adjacent rolling elements,
The rotating shaft support structure for a wind power generator according to claim 1, wherein the retainer is formed by connecting a plurality of arc-shaped retainer segments in a circumferential direction. The rotating shaft support structure of a wind power generator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rotating shaft is a main shaft whose one end is fixed to the blade and rotates together with the blade.

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