Abstract

Appropriate axial preload is necessary for the double-row tapered roller bearing used for supporting the rotor of the direct-drive wind turbine; its function is to ensure the rolling motions of the rollers and the long fatigue life of the bearing as far as possible. For this purpose, statics model of the preloaded bearing under the combined action of radial load, axial load and tilting moment load was established firstly; then, for a set of selected preload values which are different proportions of the dynamic equivalent axial load of the external bearing loads, the corresponding loaded roller number, maximum roller load and bearing fatigue life were obtained; thirdly, the effects of different preloads on the calculated indicator values were analyzed, result show that preload can improve the uneven load distribution among the rollers, the preload value also influence the rolling roller number and bearing fatigue life. A preload of 0.5 times of the dynamic equivalent axial load was selected as a trade-off between the rolling roller number and bearing fatigue life.

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