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Dec. 9, 2003 -- SKF has gained the certification of the Allianz Zentrum für Technik (AZT - Technological Centre of the German Allianz insurance group) for its SKF WindCon System, a condition monitoring system for wind energy turbines.
The certification, announced Nov. 21, means that the SKF WindCon System is now officially acknowledged by Allianz Versicherungs-AG, a major German insurance company with activities in the wind energy sector.
The certified SKF WindCon system helps to extend the maintenance intervals, by continually monitoring the operating condition of the key components of the wind turbine. This allows potential maintenance needs to be identified early and incorporated in scheduled maintenance stops. As a consequence, the time between maintenance intervals increases and costly emergency stops can be significantly reduced. Together these benefits result in less downtime, which increases the performance and cost efficiency of the turbine.
Using the SKF WindCon system a company operating a wind energy turbine may deviate from the German revision stipulations that are normally valid. The normal revision clause binds wind energy operators to exchange all bearings and gear unit wheels no later than every four years and to have the rotor blades checked and reworked, if necessary. This would cost the operator about 150,000 to 200,000 euro for each turbine.
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