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Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition

IMECE2011
November 11-17, 2011, Denver, Colorado, USA

IMECE2011-63825

RELIABILITY CENTERED MAINTENANCE AS APPLIED TO WIND TURBINE


POWER PLANTS

Seth E. Farrington Daniel Sillivant Chris Sautter


UAHuntsville UAHuntsville UAHuntsville
Huntsville, AL, USA Huntsville, AL, USA Huntsville, AL, USA

ABSTRACT by larger wind farms, the reliability and upkeep becomes a


much greater issue. Under the current production of wind
The objective of this paper is to present the methodology for power, there is a major issue with the maintenance of the wind
the application of Reliability Centered Maintenance to wind turbines.
turbines. The reliability and maintenance of wind turbines is a
growing area of interest. The inherent variation in the loading Wind turbines, just like any other system have failures.
experienced by wind turbines presents unique problems that The most common problem with wind turbines is gear box
differ from current practice within the power generation sector. failures2. More unique failures have occurred such as a blade
The core of these issues center on the inherent variability of the falling off due to high winds; causing major structural damage
wind and the resulting loads transferred to the equipment. to the tower3.
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a useful tool that
provides the means to overcome some of these difficulties. Wear out of bearings and gears will lead to damage to the
RCM is implemented through either Condition Based drive train and ultimately result in costly maintenance. The cost
Maintenance (CBM) or Time-Directed Maintenance (TDM). of replacing a bearing or maintaining the upkeep of the gears is
CBM is implemented through the use of condition monitoring relatively small in comparison to having to replace the entire
based on defined condition indicators established through field gearbox after a failure. Repairs and replacing the part are not
experience, or laboratory testing. TDM is implemented through the only costs that are incurred, but also the loss of power
the use of reliability failure analysis to characterize a time production during the downtime and the unscheduled crane
directed maintenance interval. This failure analysis is costs to reach the failed parts.
performed on either laboratory test specimens, or failed field
components. This paper presents the methodology for applying There are many different mechanisms that can cause a
CBM or TDM to a wind turbine as well as suggestions for wind turbine to fail and preventing catastrophic failures is
scaled laboratory testing. crucial to minimize the cost associated failures. Wind does not
blow consistently. During storms the loads acting on the
INTRODUCTION gearboxes may induce failures at an accelerated rate relative to
normal stress loads. Although on average the number of
Wind Turbines are becoming a bigger player in how revolutions is the same as a wind turbine in a different location,
electricity is being produced. In the United States, Over 48 the one exposed to the higher stress loads will wear out at a
billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity is being produced by
wind turbine yearly1. As the search for renewable energy
source continues, wind turbines are expected to play a greater 2
Pugcorbe, J., de-Beaumont, A., (2010), Wind Turbine Gearbox
role in the energy mix. With more electricity being produced Reliability: The impact of rotor support, Renewable Energy World Magazine,
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com.
3
Author Unknown, (2008), Survey says 60% of US wind turbines may be
1
Anthony, J., (2008), Clearing the Air: Wind Power and Reliability, behind in maintenance, Renewable Energy World Magazine,
Renewable Energy World Magazine, http://www.renewableenergyworld.com. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com.

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much greater rate. Strong winds also loosen bolts causing time t7. This model has worked fairly well for electronics, but
blades to become loose and fall off. does not provide an accurate characterization of mechanical
components, such as gears, shafts, and bearings. This is due to
Lubrication problems cause bearing and gears to wear out the fact that electronic components do not experience wear in
quickly due to fatigue, thermal effects and misalignments the same manner as mechanical components, and therefore
which all lead to more serious damage to the drive train and wear is not accounted for in the exponential model. Due to this
ultimately the gear box. A simple bearing, if it fails unnoticed, difference the assumption of a constant failure rate throughout
can lead to a failure of the gearbox which can cost one hundred the useful life of the part is not accurate for mechanical
times more than the bearing, not to mention the loss of components. The wear experienced by mechanical components
production while the systems is down. results in a failure rate which changes over the life of the part
Preventative maintenance alleviates any unscheduled (over time or number of cycles). Changing failure rates are
downtime which is costly due to the unscheduled crane cost accounted for through the use of the hazard function, h(t),
and loss of productivity. which is the instantaneous failure rate at time t. The hazard
Reliability Centered Maintenance is a highly effective function is found from the ratio of the pdf and the survival
method of scheduling preventative maintenance to avoid many function for the part.
catastrophic failures. 𝑓(𝑡) 𝑓(𝑡)
ℎ(𝑡) = =
RELIABILITY CENTERED MAINTANENCE
4 𝑆(𝑡) 1 − 𝐹(𝑡)
Reliability Centered Maintenance is a maintenance practice The survival function is the compliment of the cumulative
based on individual LRU reliability, where a LRU is a line- probability distribution, which is the integral with respect to
replaceable unit. Wessels states, “conventional system time of the pdf8.
sustainment reacts to demand for mainstream action; reliability
centered maintenance is proactive system sustainment that 𝐹(𝑡) = ∫ 𝑓(𝑡)𝑑𝑡
controls maintenance actions”5.
Reliability Centered Maintenance was born out of the The Weibull distribution has been found to provide a good
maintenance steering group, MSG-1, formed by Boeing and the characterization of the reliability of mechanical components, as
FAA, in the early 1960s6. The theories and practices of RCM well as for general reliability characterizations due in part to the
have evolved from and are one of many branches of the flexibility of the distribution. The pdf for the Weibull
discipline. distribution is given as follows:
Reliability engineering first began to emerge after the end
of World War II, primarily focused on the new electronic 𝛽 𝑡 𝛽−1 −( 𝑡 )
𝑓𝑤 (𝑡) = ( ) 𝑒 𝜂
aircraft controls. Since then reliability engineering has seen 𝜂 𝜂
growth into a new engineering discipline, still with heavy
emphasis on electronics. Within the last several years reliability Where, β is the Weibull shape parameter, η is the Weibull
engineering has experienced growth in the reliability of scale parameter, and t is time. The Weibull cumulative
mechanical systems. distribution is expressed as follows.
Originally reliability analysis was based on the assumption 𝑡
𝛽 𝑡 𝛽−1 −( 𝑡 ) 𝑡
−( )
that failures occur randomly with a constant failure rate over 𝐹𝑤 (𝑡) = ∫ 𝑓𝑤 (𝑡)𝑑𝑡 = ∫ * ( ) 𝑒 𝜂 + 𝑑𝑡 = 1 − 𝑒 𝜂
0 𝜂 𝜂
the useful life of the part. The mathematical model to
characterize failures based on this assumption is the Then the hazard function can be found.
exponential probability distribution. The probability density
function of the exponential distribution is given as follows. 𝛽 𝑡 𝛽−1 −(𝜂𝑡 )
𝑓𝑤 (𝑡) ( ) 𝑒 𝛽 𝑡 𝛽−1
𝜂 𝜂
𝑓𝑒𝑥𝑝 (𝑡) = 𝜆𝑒 −𝜆𝑡 ℎ𝑤 (𝑡) = = = ( )
1 − 𝐹𝑤 (𝑡) 𝑡
−( ) 𝜂 𝜂
Where,  is the failure rate, which is typically given in failures 1 − (1 − 𝑒 𝜂 )
per million hours, and t is time, typically in hours. This model
gives the probability that the part in question has not failed by This gives the Weibull hazard function which is a function
of time as opposed to the constant failure rate of the
exponential distribution.
4
Adapted from: Wessels, W.R., Farrington, S., Henstock, T., (2010),
Reliability Failure Analysis to Characterize Time-Directed Maintenance
Inspection Interval, Proceedings of the ASME IMEC2010, Vancouver, BC,
Canada.
5 7
Wessels, W.R. (2010), Practical Reliability Engineering and Analysis for Bazovsky, I., (1961), Reliability Theory and Practice, Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
System Design and Life-Cycle Sustainment, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
6
Moubray, J. (1997), Reliability-centered Maintenance 2nd Ed., 8
O‟Conner, P.D.T., (2002), Practical Reliability Engineering, 4 th Ed., John
Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, United Kingdom. Wiley & Sons, New York, NT.

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material properties10. For example some common failure modes
are; crack initiation, fracture, pitting and embrittlement.
After the failure modes and mechanisms are hypothesized,
the effects of these part failures are analyzed. For each of the
failure mechanisms identified the effects on the system need to
be determined. Failure effects are classified based on severity,
typically a four level classification scheme is used. The levels
used are as follows:
1. Catastrophic – the failure causes death and/or
injury to people and/or equipment.
2. Operational – the failure causes an immediate
mission abort, requiring immediate maintenance
actions to restore the system to functionality, but
no injury to people or equipment.
Figure 1: Failure Rate and Hazard Function9
3. Degraded Mode – the failure does not cause a
Figure 1 demonstrates the difference between the mission abort, but immediate maintenance actions
exponential and the Weibull failure rates over time. required at the completion of the current mission.
Reliability Centered Maintenance is an implementation of 4. Run-to-failure – the failure does not cause a
the reliability concepts introduced above to improve the mission abort, nor is immediate maintenance
reliability of the system through changes in maintenance required.
procedures, without the need to drastically redesign an existing
system. By identifying the failure effects and classifying them
according to the schedule above, preforming a consequences
Implementation of RCM involves detailed analysis on analysis, the list of parts for further analysis can be reduced
critical parts in the system, but begins with a screening from the bill-of-materials.
procedure to determine economic feasibility. The process
begins with a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, FMEA. A The next step is creating the Critical Items List, CIL, which
FMEA is a systematic bottom up approach to begin is a list of parts for further analysis listed in order of criticality.
understanding the failure mechanisms acting on each of the Fault Tree Analysis, FTA, is a top down approach to
parts in the system, and the effects of part failures on the identifying failure modes and effects. It begins by
system. The FMEA should be performed by a team of engineers hypothesizing system downing events, then hypothesizing the
with detailed knowledge of the system, preferably the design failed parts responsible for the downing event, and then
engineers. The process begins with by brainstorming to hypothesizing the failure modes and mechanisms which would
hypothesize the failure mechanisms which act on each part in cause the part to fail, causing the downing event. A FTA will
the bill of materials for the system. also result in a CIL.
Failure mechanisms have two sources, (1) operational After the completion of the FMEA or FTA, and the CIL the
conditions of use; which are intrinsic to the part, and produce next step in the procedure is math models and simulation. Static
mechanical, thermal, and/or chemical stresses from the function and dynamic load models and FEA models are excellent tools.
of the part. The part can experience mechanical loading Mathematical models provide a better understanding of the
stresses, generate heat due to friction, or be exposed to failure modes and mechanisms acting on the parts identified in
corrosive agents. Or (2) ambient conditions of use, which the CIL. The math models also allow for further screening of
produce mechanical, thermal, and/or chemical stresses from the the list by identifying parts and mechanisms which have a low
environmental conditions, the conditions of use for the system, probability of failure. Additionally the mathematical models
or from the operation of proximate parts or subsystems. and simulations may, in some cases, be sufficient to mitigate
Stresses are induced such as vibration, shock loads, thermal the identified failure mechanisms. After the completion of the
shocks, or exposure to corrosive agents. math modeling the remaining parts on the CIL, are reviewed by
After brainstorming failure mechanisms for each of the management to establish which parts are candidates for further
parts in the bill-of-materials, the failure modes associated with analysis.
each of the failure mechanisms. Collins defined failure modes After mangers review the CIL and identify parts for further
to be change in geometry, change in shape and change in analysis, the process moves on to testing to explore further the

10
Collins, J.A., (1993), Failure of Materials in Mechanical Design, 2nd
9
Wessels, W.R., Working Papers(2009), by permission of Wessels, W.R. Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.

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specific failure mechanisms acting on the parts. Reliability availability of a system for the minimal cost. A failure modes
failure analysis offers a variety of testing methods and and effects analysis (FMEA) is preformed to identify each
procedures to characterize part failures, and identify condition failure mode for each part along with the probability of its
indicators. Some common types of testing used in reliability occurrence and the potential consequences for each part. The
failure analysis are, accelerated life testing (ALT), highly- significance of the failure modes is evaluated to determine
accelerated life testing (HALT), materials characterization, which parts are to be closely monitored and put on the critical
corrosion testing, and full scale part testing. parts list. Ideally, there will be a maintenance scenario where
parts and materials have failure mechanisms that result in
The analysis procedure discussed above will produce a
failure modes that the operator can account for in the
detailed critical items list and a detailed characterization of
operational breakdown of the system. Moubray‟s P-F interval
critical part failures. This detailed characterization is preformed
relates the time between the perception of part degradation and
to better understand the failure of critical parts and to
the point at which the part fails.
characterize Moubray‟s P-F interval so that critical parts can be
Determining how to choose a condition indicator is part art
repaired or replaced prior to failure.
(operator intuition), and part science (engineering). Both are
The P-F interval as defined by John Moubray is the time needed to effectively to detect or isolate the part fault condition
interval, or number of cycles, between which a potential failure indicator or the fault of the failed part and relating the P-F
is detectable, „P‟, and when a failure occurs, „F‟ 11. interval to the model. The condition indicators chosen must be
practical both technologically and economically in that it
accurately monitors the part and false alarms are not likely to
occur.
With each maintenance action a cost is incurred in the form
of direct labor, materials, overhead and there is the lost
opportunity cost. With wind turbines, the time that the system
is not operating, it is losing the opportunity to earn money by
producing energy. This cost analysis portion requires a
multidisciplinary team in order to achieve the highest uptime
for the minimal cost. The initial setup can be expensive and
requires highly trained resources to implement a CBM strategy.
Once in place, CBM will avoid unscheduled downtime, reduce
maintenance costs, enable remote diagnostics and increase the
availability of the system13. CBM is not a onetime ordeal, it is
a living program and must be revisited as technology progress
and more economically feasible techniques become available.
With wind turbines, a majority of the failures are with the
Figure 2: Moubray's P-F Interval12 gearboxes due to wear out with the gears and bearings. A
system that monitors wear out of the gears: high stress/low
Figure 2 shows and example of the P-F Interval.
stress, number of revolutions and lubrication levels, will
At this point in the analysis there are two options to indicate when preventative maintenance actions need to take
proceed: Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM), and Time- place before a failure occurs. Within the wind industry the
Directed Maintenance (TDM). Which option to choose depends useful life for a gear box is 7-11 years. However, the expected
on condition indicators for the failure in question. If there is a life of a wind turbine is 20 years, seems rather counterintuitive
viable method to monitor the condition of the part, then CBM is since the gear box is a vital and an expensive part of the wind
the better method. Alternatively if there is not a condition turbine14. Carefully monitoring the oil level for the gears and
indicator, or not a feasible method to detect a condition bearing, the revolutions of the blades, stress on the shaft, and
indicator then TDM is the best method. any other critical part that needs to be monitored will vastly
improve the availability of the wind turbine.
CONDITION-BASED MAINTANENCE
Condition based maintenance (CBM) goes from a TIME-DIRECTED MAINTANENCE
probabilistic risk assessment to a direct evaluation of the part Time-Directed Maintenance is a maintenance management
by using real time data to prioritize and optimize maintenance plan which seeks to optimize maintenance intervals for parts
operations. What makes CBM unique is that it is which do not have condition indicators, or have condition
multidisciplinary. It takes into account engineers, technicians,
accountants, and logisticians in order to optimize the 13
Hameed, Z., Hong, Y.S., Cho, Y.M., Ahn, S.H., Song, C.K., (2009),
Condition monitoring and fault detection of wind turbines and related
algorithms: A review, Journal of Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews,
11
Moubray, J. (1997), Op. cit. Vol. 13, P.1-39.
12 14
Wessels, W.R., Working Papers(2009), Op Cit. Pugcorbe, J., et al., (2010), Op. cit.

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indicators which are not technically or economically feasible to Wessels, W.R. [2010], Practical Reliability Engineering
monitor. This is accomplished by preforming the detailed and Analysis for system Design and Life-Cycle Sustainment,
reliability analysis described above for critical parts and CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
determining a time interval for the replacement of these parts,
before they fail. The removed part is then inspected and Wessels, W.R., Farrington, S., Henstock, T., [2010],
evaluated for further use. This process can seem Reliability Failure Analysis to Characterize Time-Directed
counterintuitive to replace a part which has not failed, but the Maintenance Inspection Interval, Proceedings of the 2010
cost savings from preventing a catastrophic failure are ASME IMECE, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
significant. Even the prevention of an operational failure can
result in significant cost savings, by avoiding the lost Wessels, W.R. Working Papers, and communication. 2009.
opportunity costs of an unexpected downing event. The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Reliability and
In order to effectively implement TDM, a complete Failure Analysis Laboratory.
characterization for the critical parts is required. The hazard
function for each part for which TDM is to be implemented Collins, J.A., (1993), Failure of Materials in Mechanical
must be completely and accurately characterized so that the Design, 2nd Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.
optimal inspection and replacement intervals can be
determined. Additionally, an acceptable level of risk must be Moubray, J. (1997), Reliability-centered Maintenance 2nd
determined for each part so that the replacement intervals can Ed., Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, United Kingdom.
be set before the acceptable risk is reached.
Bazovsky, I., (1961), Reliability Theory and Practice,
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
CONCLUSION
Recently steps have been made in the direction of RCM in Johnson, K.E., Fleming, P.E., (2011), Development,
the areas of CBM and TDM. (2011) Johnson, et al., presented implementation, and testing of fault detection strategies on the
their findings from a study using a variety of sensors for fault National Wind Technology Center’s controls advanced research
detection on three research wind turbines. They found the turbines, Journal of Mechatronics, Vol. 21, P.728-736.
sensors to be effective for some failures, but still face
challenges for a complete monitoring solution15. Arabian-Hoseynabadi, H., Oraee, H., Tavner, P.J., (2010)
(2010) Arabian-Hoseynabadi et al., published their Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for Wind
findings from a FMEA for wind turbines and risk classifications Turibines, Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems, Vol
for severity, occurrence, and detection16. 32, P. 817-824.
(2009) Guo et al., published their findings from a Weibull
reliability analysis based on historical data. For their analysis Guo, H., Watson, S., Tavner, P., Xiang, J., (2009),
they built a Weibull reliability model based on limited historical Reliability Analysis for Wind Turbines with Incomplete Failure
part data for parts identified as critical17. Data Collected from After the Date of Initial Installation,
These recent efforts represent progress towards a total Journal of Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 94,
RCM solution, but a complete implementation of RCM is still P.1057-1063.
lacking. This paper presents the methodology for a total RCM
solution, through the use of CBM and TDM. Due to the unique Hameed, Z., Hong, Y.S., Cho, Y.M., Ahn, S.H., Song, C.K.,
challenges faced by wind energy systems, RCM is an ideal (2009), Condition monitoring and fault detection of wind
strategy to improve the overall effectiveness and costs of wind turbines and related algorithms: A review, Journal of
turbine power plants. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 13, P.1-39.

REFERENCES
O‟Conner, P.D.T, [2002] Practical Reliability Engineering,
4th Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.

15
Johnson, K.E., Fleming, P.E., (2011), Development, implementation,
and testing of fault detection strategies on the National Wind Technology
Center‟s controls advanced research turbines, Journal of Mechatronics, Vol. 21,
P.728-736.
16
Arabian-Hoseynabadi, H., Oraee, H., Tavner, P.J., (2010) Failure Modes
and Effects Analysis (FMEA) for Wind Turibines, Journal of Electrical Power
and Energy Systems, Vol 32, P. 817-824.
17
Guo, H., Watson, S., Tavner, P., Xiang, J., (2009), Reliability Analysis
for Wind Turbines with Incomplete Failure Data Collected from After the Date
of Initial Installation, Journal of Reliability Engineering and System Safety,
Vol. 94, P.1057-1063.

5 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

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