"Innovation of the Year": Gold for Pitch Bearing Unit from Rothe Erde

Dortmund/London. The "Pitch Bearing Unit" (PBU), a new development from Rothe Erde, has now been awarded the prestigious "Innovation of the Year 2023" gold award by the international trade magazine Windpower Monthly. The "Pitch Bearing Unit" impressed the jury not only because of its technical innovation, but also because it has the potential to significantly simplify the expansion of renewable energy from wind power.

 "We are delighted to receive the 'Innovation of the Year 2023' gold award," says Armin Necker, CTO at Rothe Erde. "We are convinced that the 'Pitch Bearing Unit' will further reduce the manufacturing costs of wind turbines for our customers. The fact that this has also been documented by a jury of experts is both an award and an incentive for us."

Modular design, universally applicable and easy to adapt

In order to maximize the wind yield of wind turbines and reduce the dynamic loads on the structure, the rotor blades of the turbine can be adjusted in a targeted manner. In newer generation turbines, this even happens several times per revolution. This process is called "pitching". In addition to roller bearings, a corresponding drive is also required for this. "Our 'Pitch Bearing Unit' has pre-mounted hydraulic or electric drives on the three rotor blade connections to carry out the adjustment," explains Rothe Erde Product Manager and Head of Calculation Daniel Becker. The entire construction is installed in a so-called extender bearing unit, which can be attached to hubs from different wind turbine manufacturers using special screw connections with different blade diameters. "The big advantage is that we can prefabricate a lot with this modular system and the PBU can also be used almost universally for all hubs of modern wind turbines thanks to its modularity. The development is therefore based on current OEM trends in terms of modularization and functional integration at component level. The PBU also enables a targeted simplification of the hub design and thus the hub-side production and assembly costs," says Daniel Becker. The PBU as a plug-and-play module thus simplifies the development and design of wind turbines. "From a structural-mechanical point of view, the PBU also improves the system stiffness for the operation of the blade bearing, which leads to a longer service life," explains Rothe Erde Group Manager FE Applications Martin Neidnicht.

Compact design also simplifies logistics

The PBU also makes logistics easier for manufacturers. It functions as a kind of adapter and, thanks to its conical shape, enables larger rotor blades to be fitted to smaller wind turbine hubs. "This not only makes the hub component simpler in terms of design, construction and assembly, but also more compact, which significantly simplifies transportation to final assembly. For example, due to the smaller size and therefore dimensions of the transport trucks, no or fewer road closures are necessary and transport routes can be selected without restrictions regarding the bridge clearance height," explains Daniel Becker.