Adjustable rotor shaft assembly,data agglomeration, generator gearbox and wind turbine

Abstract

A rotor shaft assembly for a torque-transmitting connection of a gearbox unit to a generator unit includes an output shaft for the gearbox unit, a rotor shaft for the generator unit, and a curved tooth coupling designed to connect the output shaft and the rotor shaft to one another The curved tooth coupling includes a releasably fastened supporting element designed to axially position the curved tooth coupling and including a mating face to support an axial force of the curved tooth coupling, with the mating face being designed to slide on a corresponding support face of the output shaft or of the rotor shaft when the output shaft is tilted relative to the rotor shaft.

Claims

1. A wind turbine, comprising: a nacelle; a multi-blade rotor rotatably disposed on the nacelle; a generator gearbox comprising a generator unit and a gearbox unit connected to the generator unit; a main shaft connecting the rotor in a torque-transmitting manner to the generator gearbox; an output shaft for the gearbox unit of the generator gearbox; a rotor shaft for the generator unit of the generator gearbox; and a curved tooth coupling designed to connect the output shaft and the rotor shaft to one another, said curved tooth coupling comprising at least one adjustable releasably fastened supporting element designed to adjust an axial position of the curved tooth coupling and including a mating face to support an axial force of the curved tooth coupling, with the mating face being designed to slide on a corresponding support face of the output shaft or of the rotor shaft when the output shaft is tilted relative to the rotor shaft.

2. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein a first of the at least one adjustable releasably fastened supporting element is disposed on a side of the curved tooth coupling, which side faces the gearbox unit.

3. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein a second of the at least one adjustable releasably fastened supporting element is disposed on a side of the curved tooth coupling, which side faces the generator unit.

4. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein a first of the at least one adjustable releasably fastened supporting element and a second of the at least one adjustable releasably fastened supporting element in conjunction with the corresponding support faces form a ball joint bearing for the curved tooth coupling.

5. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the at least one adjustable releasably fastened supporting element is designed to provide a compensating axial clearance of the output shaft relative to the rotor shaft for compensating an axial thermal expansion during operation.

6. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the at least one adjustable releasably fastened supporting element is designed to captively couple the output shaft to the rotor shaft.

7. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the support face is designed as a shoulder in a region of a curved toothing.

8. The wind turbine of claim 7, wherein the shoulder is directly connected to the curved toothing and/or disposed directly adjacent to the curved toothing.

9. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the support face is configured to be at least partially convex in an encircling manner.

10. The wind turbine of claim 9, wherein the support face is designed as an annular spherical cap.

11. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the supporting element and the support face are at least partially produced from dissimilar materials.

12. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the mating face of the supporting element includes a portion which is at least partially configured to be concave in an encircling manner.

13. The wind turbine of claim 1, wherein the output shaft is configured as a sun shaft of a planetary stage of the gearbox unit and includes an external toothing for the curved tooth coupling, and wherein the rotor shaft is configured as a hollow shaft and includes an internal toothing for the curved tooth coupling, said curved tooth coupling being configured radially inside the rotor shaft.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

(1) FIG. 1 schematically shows a first embodiment of the claimed rotor shaft assembly in longitudinal section;

(2) FIG. 2 shows a schematic construction of a first embodiment of the claimed generator gearbox;

(3) FIG. 3 shows a first embodiment of the claimed wind turbine in a sectional oblique view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(4) FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a longitudinal section of a first embodiment of the claimed rotor shaft assembly 30, which comprises an output shaft 10, configured as a hollow shaft 11, and a rotor shaft 20, that is also configured as a hollow shaft 21 and is rotatably received in rotor shaft bearings 28 on a housing 34 not illustrated in more detail. A torque 25, which Is to be transmitted to the rotor shaft 20, is supplied via the output shaft 10 in relation to a main rotation axis 15. The output shaft 10 is assigned to a gearbox unit 51, not illustrated in more detail, on a gearbox side 31, and the rotor shaft 20 is assigned to a generator unit 53, not shown in more detail, on a generator side 33. The output shaft 10 at one end facing the generator side 33 is provided with a curved toothing 12 which is configured as an external toothing 13. The rotor shaft 20 is correspondingly provided with a curved toothing 22 which is configured as an internal toothing 23 and meshes with the curved toothing 12 of the output shaft 10. The curved toothings 12, 22 on the output shaft 10 and the rotor shaft 20 thus belong to a curved tooth coupling 40 which allows an angular offset between the output shaft 10 and the rotor shaft 20 about a pivot point 45. The angular offset can be established in each case for the output shaft 10 and the rotor shaft 20 in relation to the main rotation axis 15. As a result, an angular adjustability 49 is achieved, which is symbolized in FIG. 1 by the correspondingly designated double arrow. In an optimally aligned state, as shown in FIG. 1, an apex 17 of the curved toothing 12 on the output shaft 10 and an apex 27 of the curved toothing 22 on the rotor shaft 20 are positioned so as to be substantially in alignment in a radial direction 37.

(5) The curved tooth coupling 40 also comprises supporting elements 42 which are configured so as to be encircling and are disposed in the region of the curved toothings 12, 22. In the assembled state, the supporting elements 42 are fastened with circlips 48. The supporting elements 42 are releasably mounted, with a first supporting element 44 being disposed on the gearbox side 31 in relation to the curved tooth coupling 40, and a second supporting element 46 on the generator side 33. By disposing the supporting elements 42, 44, 46 in a region 41 of the curved toothings 12, 22, the angular adjustability 49, i.e. the maximum achievable angular offset, is determined. The supporting elements 42, 44, 46 each have a mating face 43 which is configured so as to be encircling and substantially concave and is disposed opposite a support face 16 on the output shaft 10. The support faces 16 are configured integrally with the output shaft 10 and each are associated with a shoulder 18 which is also configured integrally with the output shaft 10. The support faces 16 are each configured so as to be substantially convex, with the shape of the support faces 16 corresponding to the concave shape of the mating faces 43 on the rotor shaft 20. The support faces 16 and the mating faces 43 are configured so as to be spherical and have the pivot point 45 of the angular adjustability 49 as the center. Such a spherical shape of the curved tooth coupling 40 offers a particular ease of movement for the angular adjustability 49. Furthermore, at least one of the supporting elements 42, 44, 46 in the region of the mating face 43 is produced from a different material than a corresponding support face 16 on the output shaft 10. At least one of the supporting elements 42, 44, 46 is produced from a friction bearing material that minimizes friction between the corresponding support face 16 and the supporting element 42, 44, 46. Furthermore, the curved tooth coupling 40, i.e. the curved toothings 12, 22 on the output shaft 10 and the rotor shaft 20, is positioned along an axial direction 35 by the supporting elements 42, 44, 46. The axial positioning by the supporting elements 42, 44, 46 guarantees that the curved toothings 12, 22 are minimized in terms of width, i.e. their dimensions along the axial direction 35. This guarantees that there is a maximum overlap of the curved toothings 12, 22 during engagement, i.e. when meshing. Accordingly, a minimum width is sufficient for the curved toothings 12, 22. Furthermore, a pitch tube 36 is rotatably accommodated in the output shaft 10 configured as a hollow shaft 11. A generator-proximal end face 14 of the output shaft 10 lies along the axial direction 35 in the region of the rotor shaft 20. The output shaft 10 is thus disposed without bearings on the generator side 33, which in turn reduces the number of components in the rotor shaft assembly 30 and simplifies its assembly. The rotor shaft assembly 30 in FIG. 1 is furthermore reproduced in a computer program product 80 which is configured to simulate the operating behavior of the rotor shaft assembly 30.

(6) The construction of a first embodiment of the claimed generator gearbox 50 is schematically depicted in FIG. 2. The generator gearbox 50 comprises a gearbox unit 51 which is releasably connected to a generator unit 53. The gearbox unit 51 includes three planetary stages 55 which are connected in series, so that a torque 25 which is supplied via an input shaft 19 is transported between the planetary stages 55 to the generator unit 53 without bifurcation. The input shaft 19 is rotatable about a main rotation axis 15 of the generator gearbox 50 and is configured as a main shaft 74 of a wind turbine 70 not shown in more detail. The first, second and third planetary stages 55.1, 55.2, 55.3 each have a ring gear 57, a planetary carrier 56 with at least one planetary gear 58, and a sun gear 59. The ring gears 57 are fastened in a housing 34 which at least partially encloses the gearbox unit 51. The supplied torque 25 is accordingly transported from the gearbox side 31 in the direction of the generator side 33, with an output shaft 10 of the gearbox unit 51 being connected to a generator 39 on the generator unit 53 in a torque-transmitting manner. The output shaft 10 is configured as a sun shaft 47 of one of the planetary stages 55, in particular the third planetary stage 55.3. Furthermore, the output shaft 10 is associated with a rotor shaft assembly 30 which also includes a rotor shaft 20, the output shaft 10 and the rotor shaft 20 being connected to one another by means of a curved tooth coupling 40. The rotor shaft assembly 30 is configured according to one of the embodiments described above. A gearbox unit 51 with three planetary stages 55, 55.1, 55.2, 55.3, which is connected directly to a generator 39 via a sun shaft 47 serving as an output shaft 10, offers a particular level of performance, cost-effectiveness and reliability for a wind turbine 70,

(7) FIG. 3 shows the construction of a first embodiment of a claimed wind turbine 70 in a sectional oblique view. The wind turbine 70 comprises a multi-blade rotor 72 rotatably mounted on a nacelle 75 and connected in a torque-transmitting manner to a main shaft 74. The main shaft 75 serves as an input shaft 19 of a generator gearbox 50 which comprises a gearbox unit 51 and a generator unit 53 with a generator 39. The gearbox unit 51 and the generator unit 53 are connected to one another in a torque-transmitting manner via a rotor shaft assembly 30. The rotor shaft assembly 30 comprises a curved tooth coupling 40, through which an angular adjustability 49 between the gearbox unit 51 and the generator unit 53 is ensured. The rotor shaft assembly 30 here is configured according to at least one of the embodiments outlined above.