In the middle of June, the manufacturer-independent service company seebaWIND Service GmbH exchanged the gear boxes in two 1.5 megawatt wind power plants at a Polish wind farm in Western Pomerania within only three days.

Osnabrück, 11.09.2014. In the middle of June, the manufacturer-independent service company seebaWIND Service GmbH exchanged the gear boxes in two 1.5 megawatt wind power plants at a Polish wind farm in Western Pomerania within only three days. The six service technicians from seebaWIND Service used a gear box bridge so that the plant's rotors did not have to be removed. "This way we could save over a week of work as well as significant costs, which would have been incurred on account of the additional logistics and cranes", explains Dirk Hennig, deputy service leader at seebaWIND Service.

The technicians exchanged the irreparably damaged gear boxes on both Fuhrländer FL77 plants at a height of 100 metres, the plant's hub height. Only one crane was needed to mount the components. A second crane, which would have created significantly higher costs, was not needed thanks to the installation of a gear box bridge. Using this bridge construction, seebaWIND's specialists fixed the main shaft onto the main supporting frame, thereby stabilizing both the rotor as well as the main shaft. "Both gear boxes, weighing 15 tonnes each, could be exchanged in record time this way", says Dirk Hennig, pleased.

Efficient Maintenance – even Abroad

"The greatest challenges in exchanging a gear box lie, above all, in the logistics and the wind conditions", explains Dirk Hennig. "Such an action has to be well planned. All replacement parts, materials and cranes have to be in the right place at the right time." In addition, specialists are needed, who know the specific logistical features in the foreign country, for example, special transport permits or industrial safety regulations. "Exchanging the gear boxes in the wind farm in Western Pomerania has shown that we can master these logistical challenges with great efficiency. Ultimately the wind farm operator also profits from this", summarises Dirk Hennig.