A pitch bearing is a component that connects the rotor hub and the rotor blade. The bearing allows the required oscillation to control the loads and power of the wind turbine.
- The new pitch bearing design must fulfil the loading, environmental and structural specifications defined for future larger wind turbines: higher static capacity, longer lifetime and longer fatigue loading requirements are expected.
- Final Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) failure mode validation will be performed on the 1,5 MW test bench at LAULAGUN´s facilities. Other major failure modes will also be analysed and validated during the development of the component in order to verify the results obtained by hybrid testing implemented during INNTERESTING.
Currently the most common pitch bearing concept is the Four-point contact (4PC) bearing design, widely used in the wind industry.
In the last years 3 Row Roller (3RR) bearings have gained an increasing presence in the sector
Future bearing concept
But in any case, a bearing concept for supporting higher loading conditions is needed for future wind turbines.