WIND ENERGY UK

has a total capacity of 1200 MW generated by 240
turbines (assume a standard configuration) situated across 12 locations offshore
along the south east coast of England. The average availability of the turbines
across the fleet is less than 50%. There have been several catastrophic blade
failures leading to serious concerns over public and employee safety. Your client is
specifically concerned about an increasing number of main gearbox failures. The
majority of the issues appear to be maintenance related rather than inherent design
or build problems. Field failure data is very limited. Your RCM study might follow, but
is not limited to, the proposed method outlined in items (1)-(3). Item (4) is mandatory.

(1) Conduct a suitable failure modes and effects analysis that identifies the critical
wind turbine failure modes.
(2) Examine each of the critical failure modes to determine the optimum
maintenance policy.
(3) Your maintenance strategy might take into account cost, safety, environmental
and operational consequences.
(4) You should include in your discussion how the results from your RCM study
might compare to the results from a traditional RAMS study on the same asset
operating under the same conditions.
Note:- You may estimate the input data required for items (1), (2) and (3). The
assignment is designed to test your understanding of the application the method
NOT your knowledge of wind turbine technology. No need to cover in detail the
maintenance delivery (CBM technology etc) – this is covered in detail in the
Condition Based Module.