Bachmann gets condition-monitoring contract

With its beginnings in apple orchards, this company has returned to its green roots by machining large parts for the wind-power industry.

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Juvent SA, the biggest Swiss wind farm, is to rely on condition monitoring systems from the Bachmann Monitoring GmbH for intelligent turbine automation.

Bachmann, experts for condition monitoring systems (CMS), was awarded the contract in November following a call for tenders by Juvent SA and its main shareholder, the BKW Group. The internationally active energy and infrastructure enterprise has chosen Bachmann to equip the biggest Swiss wind farm Juvent with the Omega Guard CMS. The wind farm is situated on the heights of Mont Crosin and Mont Soleil in the Bernese Jura, and is comprised of 16 Vestas V90 and V112 wind turbines.

Everything under control from afar

“We will already begin to deliver and install our CMS in the 1,200-meter altitude wind farm this year,” said Holger Fritsch, managing director of Bachmann Monitoring GmbH.

Considering the approaching winter, this is a challenge in terms of logistics and time, but one that Fritsch and his team are more than willing to take on. The data from all the rotating power transmission components — main bearing, generator, and gears — will be constantly diagnosed by means of the web-based system. This means that it will be possible to plan repairs for each and every one of the 16 turbines that were put into operation between 2010 and 2016 in good time. This not only saves money for service team logistics but also prevents long downtimes and the possibility that minor defects can turn into expensive consequential damages.

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“We particularly like the collaborative partnership because it means that in the future we can also manage all the data ourselves,” said Johannes Vogel, managing director of Juvent SA.

Tested and found to be good

A strategic partnership also has been reached in Germany between Berlin-based BKW Wind Service GmbH and Bachmann Monitoring. After an extensive test of the CMS, BKW Deutschland decided to embark on a path to establishing health monitoring for its wind turbines together with Bachmann Monitoring. BKW’s German operation currently operates 10 wind farms. The test phase saw its wind farm in Bockelwitz, Saxony, equipped with the Bachmann CMS. Other wind farms will follow.

Source: Bachmann

For more information, go to www.bachmann.info