Endurance E-3120 Oil Filtration Upgrade: GT-F

The majority of Endurance E-3120 wind turbines are not fitted with any oil filtration on the main gearbox.

As the E-3120s age, it is becoming increasingly apparent that oil filtration is a must have for all E-3120s.

There have only been a handful of gearbox failures, however, the repair costs are very high, and a modest investment in oil filtration will help to extend the gearbox life and reduce the need to change the oil as frequently.

DC21 will be installing oil filtration on all of its own turbines and encourages all E-3120 owners to do the same.

Why doesn’t my E-3120 have oil filtration?

Endurance Wind Power (EWP) prescribed regular (15,000 hour) oil changes as a means of keeping the gearbox oil clean. However, EWP’s dirt thresholds are somewhat relaxed and are unlikely to protect the gearbox for a service life approaching anything like the 20 years EWP promoted.

The issues are compounded by opening of the gearbox for sampling and the relatively poor cleanliness of new oil or introduction of contaminants during oil changes.

What are the benefits of oil filtration?

During 2015 EWP introduced oil filtration on the E-3120, and latterly the new E-4660. A retrofit kit was offered for older turbines at a price of over £3,000 (main dealer price) plus installation.

At that time the only benefit published by EWP for the oil filtration was the longevity of the oil. Whilst the oil is fully synthetic and quite expensive, the payback on the oil filtration system was not particularly attractive and few E-3120 owners elected to upgrade their turbines.

The EWP system was based on the CJC oil filter, the prevalent oil filtration technology for small/medium wind turbine gearboxes. The GT-F oil filtration system we install uses the same core filtration technology but with several design improvements and delivers this at a lower cost than EWP were charging dealers.

DC21 has been comparing oil test results from turbines retrofitted with the GT-F with oil filtration. The graph below shows the effect of adding on filtration (in March 2017) on a 5 year old E-3120 wind turbine.

Note: the dramatic reduction in contamination above 4 microns, and reduction in wear indicators.

What are the specific benefits of the GT-F

The GT-F will seal your gearbox for life and prevent the ingress of moisture and dirt that can seriously compromise the life of your gearbox.

The GT-F introduces the following features

• Continuous oil filtration at 3 micron
• Significant extension of the gearbox oil life
• Reduction in gearbox wear and extension of gearbox life
• All new oil is pumped into the gearbox through the filter ensuring no contamination is introduced
• Improved oil sampling system. Samples are taken from the pumped loop, prior to the filter.
• Reduces the variability of sampling by dipping the gearbox.
• Eliminates the risk of introducing contaminants to the gearbox.
• Improved oil flow path front to back (compared to EWP oil filtration system, front to front).
• 3 micron breather and desiccant dryer to reduce contamination and moisture ingress.

Who has developed the GT-F?

Serenity Wind is part of DC21’s nationwide service network. Observations on oil cleanliness and gearbox life prompted Serenity Wind to develop the GT-F.

The GT-F is now exclusively available through DC21 to all E-3120 owners.

GT-F Installation

Installation can be carried out during other work, or alternatively, we can schedule installation for the next available engineer.

We recommend the oil filter is changed at every service and the breather/desiccant dryer is changed on exhaustion (colour indicated).

Do I need to be under contract to DC21 in order to benefit?

If your O&M contract is with another service provider we can still install the oil filtration system and provide consumables for servicing by third parties.

E-3120 Products, Upgrades & Repairs