LOW COST MANUFACTURING PROCESS FOR LARGE DIAMETER WIND TURBINE SEALS

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The wind energy generation industry is predicated to grow significantly over the next 10 years. Turbines need to increase in both size and efficiency, with turbines under development now having shaft sizes greater than 6m in diameter. Rotary shaft seals are needed to seal lubricant or grease inside the main shaft bearing. Operators are seeking longer service life for the turbine and components, with a technical challenge for larger seals as these need to withstand higher surface speeds as shaft size increases.Current state of art technology for rotary turbine seals is to manufacture compression moulded elastomer profiles seals. These seals normally have a combination of high performance elastomer, lip spring and back reinforcement. Several donor seals are compression moulded, split and re-joined to form larger diameter seals. The size of the donor seals are limited to heated platen size used in the moulding operation.The technology used to join the donor seals into the finished seal is a proven technology but any join is subject to increase risk of failure and detrimental impact on service life.This project aims to take James Walkers existing seal design and materials and radically change the manufacturing process such that turbine seals of any diameter can be manufactured with only a single join.