Formulating for the future of wind turbines

The industrial gear oil market is becoming a challenging lubricant segment for suppliers and end users. Lubricants must protect hardware from friction & wear and also cool gearboxes, often with smaller design configurations carrying higher loads and higher thermal stress. The results are a continued trend for lower lubricant fill volumes, expected to do more and last longer than traditional fluids. Continued rationalization pressure from end users requires that lubricant suppliers provide robust products suitable for use across a wide range of applications, often under stressful environmental conditions. Add to this the viscosity grades required in multiple application and it increasingly becomes necessary to consider higher performance lubricants using synthetic base fluids and components.

Evonik has developed a systematic approach to assisting oil marketers to formulate synthetic gear oils using their VISCOBASE® synthetic base fluids, oils that meet or exceed international standards and OEM requirements.

Achieving high load carrying performance, hardware durability, extended service life and energy efficiency at a highly attractive cost position opens up significant opportunities for oil marketers to satisfy their customers' technical and commercial objectives.

Evonik's NUFLUX™ technology, when applied to industrial gear lubricants is designed to achieve more productivity, less downtime and optimal fluid service costs.

Harsh environmental conditions, varying loads and speeds and necessary lubricant compatibility all contribute to stressed wind turbine gearbox lubricant performance, making wind turbines one of the most challenging applications for industrial lubrication.

Industry expectation of an increasing service life for gearboxes requires that lubricants exhibit exceptional durability and reliability in service. Wind turbine gear oils (WTGOs) used in wind farm service are a significant contributor to the overall operating cost of wind power generation, especially the attendant costs of replacement and quality monitoring. Consequently, they must offer innovative and sustainable solutions that not only extend performance, but also minimize costs.

Evonik has created Formulation 8175, a WTGO developed with NUFLUX™ technology, for critical OEM and owner/operator service requirements. Formulated with NUFLUX™ technology, additional Evonik-formulated components, as well as base fluids and additives from other suppliers, Formulation 8175 meets or exceeds the performance of existing synthetic WTGO lubricants, even under the most demanding conditions.

Evonik is bringing Formulation 8175 to market through selected lubricant formulators and marketers. These partners have the resources to provide wind farm operators with full-system protection for their turbine gearboxes.