Maintenance Free Bearings




Application:
The gondolas of a series of large (1MW) windmills were revolving on bronze segments,
bolted to the tower. To keep them in good condition a continuous grease supply was
installed but their operational life was short. The grease appeared not to reach the
contact areas where it was needed the most and the bronze segments appeared to
'hammer-out'. To solve this problem D-glide segments according to the same design
replaced the original segments. Grease is no longer needed for a smooth operation
and because all deformation is elastic the segments do not 'hammer-out'. Grease is
still applied to prevent corrosion of the surrounding steel parts but the volume has
been reduced to 5 percent of the original volume.



Advantages of the D-Glide solution
- Long bearing life
- Significant Reduction of grease usage
- Smooth operation




Windmills: Several sets of segments (radius ± 2800mm)
for the gondola support.