Gearbox lube oil samples are autonomously collected while the turbine is in full operating mode and are tracked and protected with end-to-end chain-of-custody providing a data log from ‘edge-to-lab-to-cloud’. LogiLube’s SmartLab™ smartphone app ensures the physical oil sample is matched with raw wind turbine operational data that is uncorrupted, thereby lowering the risk of human error and providing unparalleled data integrity. SmartGear™ has the ability to monitor fluid samples for particles (ferrous and non-ferrous) of as small as 4 microns in size, which is approximately 10X smaller than conventional wind industry oil monitoring solutions today. Twenty times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, detection of 4 micron particles gives wind turbine operators the ability to monitor wear particle behavior in real time. Coupling the real-time capability of SmartGear™ with the physical oil sample analysis of SmartLab™ will provide the corroborating evidence to support a data-driven O&M response.

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“Having access to the data provided by this technology will significantly increase availability. The method of measuring continuously key oil condition parameters and verifying them through oil samples is unique in the industry” says Edwin Hidding, Head of Digital Gearbox at Winergy.

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The autonomously filled sample bottle containing gear lube oil is representative of in-service oil harvested while the gearbox is in operation. Water contamination, metal wear particles, dirt, debris and oil additives are therefore homogeneously mixed within the physical oil sample. Throughout the 12-month CRADA, NREL researchers will climb the tower of the GE 1.5 MW wind turbine to collect the used oil sample bottles every 2 weeks. The resulting oil analysis reports will be coupled with 100 million data points of real-time gearbox operational and oil quality data reported by the SmartOil™ system every 30 seconds and accessible via a secure web dashboard.

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Additionally, LogiLube will be using their SmartData™ platform and remote app servers to analyze the real-time data from the NREL test. The calibration and preliminary testing on the Winergy gearbox appears to indicate that the operational intelligence developed by the SmartGear™ platform is capable of providing actionable insight to make informed predictive maintenance decisions. Dynamic changes of wear particles (4µm, 6µm, 14µm and 21µm) have been observed in real-time as the gearbox is subjected to increased loads and RPM. The SmartOil™ platform not only plots the particle counts on the web-dashboard, but reports out an ISO 4406 cleanliness code for the operator to reference in real-time. Should the particle count, absolute value, as well as rate of change, exceed a pre-set threshold, a SMS text message and email is automatically generated and sent to appropriate personnel for further action. A proprietary algorithm that discerns air bubbles (foam, aeration) from ferrous wear particles is edge-processed by the on-board microprocessor to minimize false alarms.