Effect of Input Torque on the Modulation Sidebands of Planetary Gears in a Wind Turbine Gearbox Under Gravity Excitations

Abstract

Planetary gears are the main components of the wind turbine gearbox (WTG). In the recent investigations of WTG, it has been found that the gravity of planetary gears acts as a fundamental source of external excitation, which considerably changes the planetary gears’ dynamics. In this study, a dynamic model of planetary gears with gravity excitation is developed, and dynamic response is computed using Newmark beta algorithm. Excitations due to time-varying mesh stiffness are also incorporated in the dynamic model, which are inherent in gears and are the primary source of internal excitations. The input torque effect is investigated on planetary gears’ dynamics under gravity excitations for two different mesh phase designs, namely, in-phased meshing and sequentially phased meshing. It is observed that the input torque significantly affects the amplitude of sidebands due to gravity excitations. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.