SSchwenk-Dyn – Drive simulation of spur gear slewing drives

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Slewing drives consist of high-ratio, multi-stage gearboxes and electric motors. They realize the yaw motion of large materials handling equipment as well as wind turbines or construction machinery.
Typical for slewing drives is the operating scenario with repeated reversal of the rotational direction. Each time the motors are reversed, the backlash of all spur gear stages must be traversed, which often takes several motor revolutions. The loads in the drive train during and after tooth flank impact are correspondingly high. Coping with the dynamics of the highly elastic drive trains is a challenge for the design and operation of these systems.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the system and to be able to evaluate the potential of active (control) and passive (design) optimization measures, an overall system model is built.
The mechanical drive train is represented as a flexible MBS model (EMBS). In terms of an overall system approach, the focus is not limited to this. By modeling the control system, the sensors and the electrical motor, as well as the flexible support structures on the output side, the significance of the simulation model is increased.
The modeling is accompanied by the recording of measured operational data on an example plant. A comparison of measurement data and load case simulations serves to validate the model.

By understanding the system behavior, control-engineering approaches for active reduction of dynamic loads can be developed and tested on a model basis. In detail, methods for the active damping of torsional vibrations and for the minimization of the maximum loads by means of an optimized traversal of the gear backlash are presented. The research results will be published in the final report of the IGF project 20434 BR.