Bearing industry is expected to break through

Dalian Zhaxi shaft produces a batch of high-end bearings that are supported by major national equipment, filling the gap in this field in China. At the same time, Shanghai Electric's total investment of 500 million yuan in efficient and clean ultra-large wind power bearing production line technical transformation project was completed and put into operation, the first 3.6 MW offshore wind turbine bearing off the assembly line. Shanghai Electric from the introduction of technology to the joint design, and then to the independent development, in the bearing development out of a new road. At present, the technical development capabilities and process control capabilities of Chinese technical personnel have reached the international level. The cost is only equivalent to 2/3 of the imported bearings. After mass production, it is expected to drop to 1/2 of the imported bearings.

Although making up for the gap is not a day's work, domestic companies are keeping an eye on the world trend and gradually realizing the upgrading of high-end bearing product industries. They will change the long-term dependence of imported high-precision, high-reliability, and high-speed bearings on key technologies and equipment in many key areas in China. The situation.

Bearings are the soft underbelly of China's wind power equipment manufacturing In recent years, China's equipment manufacturing industry has developed rapidly. However, most of the high-end bearings for major equipment are imported. Bearings and other core components have become bottlenecks in the development of major national equipment. "The rapid development of domestic high-speed railway, but the bearing has become a serious bottleneck. Europe and the United States currently can meet the high-speed rail bearing 350-400 kilometers per hour, and China's current high-speed bearings can only meet the EMU 150-180 km." For example, insiders say. In addition, high-end bearings such as large wind turbine bearings, deep-well drilling rig turntable bearings, and offshore drilling platform series bearings are also the weaknesses of domestic enterprises.

It is understood that an important use of precision large bearings is for wind turbines. Wind generator bearings include: yaw bearings, spindle bearings, transmission bearings, generator bearings and so on.

A person in charge of wind power equipment of Kyushu Electric told the reporter that as one of the important supporting equipment for wind turbines, the force and vibration of wind turbine bearings are complex, and they must withstand large shock loads, and the installation cost of yaw and pitch bearings is large. At the same time, the life of the host must be at least 20 years. Due to the harsh operating conditions and long-life high reliability requirements of wind power equipment, wind turbine bearings have high technical complexity and are recognized as one of the two most difficult localization (bearings and control systems).

Domestic wind turbine bearings rely on foreign imports for a long period of time, which is expensive, increasing the cost per kilowatt of wind power equipment, and also restricting the decline in wind power costs.

China's bearing companies are making progress in exploration. At present, domestic wind turbine bearings have gradually become large-scale and serialized. Major companies include tile shafts, Luo Sha, Axis Research Technology, Fangyuan support, Shanghai United, and other related companies.

According to the China Bearing Industry Association staff, wind turbine bearings, yaw bearings and pitch bearings of the technical threshold is relatively low, and the spindle bearing and speed increaser bearing technology content is high, generator bearings are basically mature technology Universal products. At present, the production capacity of domestic wind turbine bearing enterprises is mainly concentrated on yaw bearings and variable pitch bearings, and the main supporting equipment for wind power equipment below 3 MW is the main bearing. For spindle bearings and speed increasing bearings, basically rely on imports, only a few domestic enterprises Initial involvement.

It is understood that China’s bearing industry is far from being able to understand the design, manufacture, and testing technologies of wind turbine bearings. For example, what kind of bearing is the spindle bearing, and what type of slewing bearing is used for the pitch bearing is good? How to prevent the occurrence of cracks in bearing raceway and tooth quenching, how to ensure the hardness of the surface and the depth of the hardened layer are still in the process of exploration.