Helping cut cost of wind turbine maintenance

Lubricant is dispensed by a piston pump via progressive metering devices – giving the right quantity in the right place at the right time. The system is easy to monitor, giving feedback should a failure occur.

Regular lubrication is vital for a wind turbine if it is to run at maximum efficiency, but doing this manually can be costly, time consuming, and prone to errors and safety issues: lubrication points are often inaccessible, which can require the turbine to be taken off-grid while work is carried out. Quicklub eliminates these problems by delivering precisely metered doses of lubricant only when and where it is needed – with supply determined by the actual operating conditions of each turbine.

“Manual lubrication costs account for up to 10 percent of a wind turbine’s total servicing bill,” says Tim Veal, lubrication systems business manager for SKF. “This makes automatic lubrication, either on a new turbine or as a retrofit, an attractive option.”

Dispensing lubrication automatically and without human intervention frees up technicians for other tasks. In addition, automated systems prevent over-lubrication of a component, enabling substantial lubricant savings over time. They also dispense lubricant more accurately and at the right time, which lengthens component lifetime and extends the time between major service intervals. Crucially, an automatic lubrication system allows for lubricant to be dispensed while the turbine is in operation – rather than needing to take it off-grid.