Condemned gear oil from a 2 MW wind turbine: 97.6 % fewer large particles
A drum of 10-year-old gear oil had been set aside for disposal. After five hours of offline filtration in a trial at the manufacturer, the number of particles above 14 µm had fallen from 19,790 to 473 per ml.
Particles above 14 µm per ml
The gear oil had been in a 2 MW wind turbine for 10 years and had been condemned for disposal. Instead, a full drum of 208 litres was sent to the manufacturer of Delta Xero to see how far the oil could be cleaned.
The oil was run through a DX1003-T with three cartridges on a test rig at 18 to 25 °C. The particle count was measured continuously with an online particle counter.
At the first measurement the oil had 79,685 particles above 4 µm per ml. Five hours later the figure was 4,347, and particles above 14 µm had fallen from 19,790 to 473. At that point only approx. 44 % of the drum, 97 litres, had passed through the cartridges.
This is a laboratory trial, not an installation in a turbine. The manufacturer states that the oil was subsequently assessed as fit for reuse by both an independent laboratory and the oil supplier’s own, but those reports are not included in the material.
The figures before and after
| Measurement | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Particles above 14 µm per ml | 19,790 | 473 |
| Particles above 6 µm per ml | 39,000 | 2,138 |
| Particles above 4 µm per ml | 79,685 | 4,347 |
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