Dry sump lubrication system with removable oil reservoir for wind turbine gearbox

Abstract

A gear unit for use in wind turbine applications has a dry sump and is lubricated from an external reservoir whereby routine oil change may be undertaken by removing an external reservoir containing used oil and replacing it by a reservoir containing fresh oil.

1 . Gear unit for use in wind turbine applications characterised by the fact that the gear unit has a dry sump and is lubricated from an external reservoir  
   
   
       2 . Gear unit according to  claim 1  characterised by the fact that the gear unit consist of several modules each of which receives fresh oil from the lubrication system and returns the used oil to the external reservoir.  
   
   
       3 . Gear unit according to  claim 2  characterised by the fact that each return line is equipped with a debris trap device allowing evaluation of each of the modules.  
   
   
       4 . Gear unit according to  claim 1  characterised by the fact that the regular oil change is carried out by removing the complete external oil reservoir and replacing it with a fresh oil reservoir  
   
   
       5 . Gear unit according to  claim 3  characterised by the fact that not only the oil reservoir is exchanged at the time of oil change, but also a number of dedicated parts of the oil conditioning system attached to the reservoir.  
   
   
       6 . Gear unit according to  claim 2  characterised by the fact that the gear unit comprises an integrated wind turbine rotor bearing arrangement that is also lubricated with fresh oil from the same reservoir.  
   
   
       7 . Gear unit according to  claim 5  characterised by the fact that the gear unit is sealed at a large diameter by a sealing arrangement whose function is based on non contacting sealing principles.