Equipment Consulting, Mechanical, Electrical

Wind Turbine Failure, Ohio

25 August 2015

Assignment

Envista Forensics was assigned to investigate the nature, extent and cause of damage to a wind turbine that disconnected from the tower it was mounted to and fell to the ground.

Activities

Envista electrical and mechanical engineering teams conducted a site inspection at the loss site. This investigation consisted of an inspection of the damaged wind turbine, as well as two identical functional turbines. Envista engineers also inspected utility buildings and related equipment, as well as reviewed maintenance and service history for all pieces of equipment. Past maintenance history included the now-failed turbine being returned to the manufacturer for modifications to the blades prior to the catastrophic failure.

Outcome

Following our inspections and review, Envista was able to determine that the turbine failed due to excessive vibrations in the rotor which occurred after being sent to the manufacturer for blade modifications. As a result of these vibrations, the fiberglass blades failed prematurely and broke while rotating. This caused a severe imbalance which sheared mounting bolts, causing the nacelle to fall to the ground. Envista engineers' recommendation, due to the severe damage throughout the nacelle due to ground impact, was to replace the unit in order to restore to a pre-loss condition.

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About The Author
Matthew Senn
Matthew Senn, PE
Practice Leader
Energy

Mr. Matthew Senn is the Practice Leader for Energy and a licensed Professional Engineer with a strong background in Renewable Energy power generation; specifically, Megawatt-class wind turbine, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), and solar photovoltaic power plants. He has analyzed failures of renewable energy equipment during construction, operation, and transportation phases of the equipment. He specializes in root cause failure analysis and has evaluated damage and subsequent repairs to the following large renewable energy equipment: generators/motors, wind turbine blades, nacelles, generators, gearboxes, bearings, control panel, inverters/converters, large gauge insulated conductor cables, high-power vacuum tube contactors, generator slip rings with carbon brushes, power factor correction capacitors and ultrasonic anemometers, battery modules, battery management systems, and solar photovoltaic modules.
Additionally, he has performed forensic investigation on fire scenes. He has analyzed failed deep-groove ball bearings installed on generators and motors. He has experience designing installation of motor current monitoring systems, condition monitoring systems, large gauge conductor cable repair and engineered tower power and light systems. He has assisted in the development of electrical safety lock-out/tag-out programs and authored many repair instructions for electrical components. At Envista, he provides forensic analysis of electrical and electromechanical equipment failure and provides leadership to the Energy Practice Group.

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