Zero-Max, Inc. announces expansion of its wind turbine couplings covering a broad range of wind turbine applications. Zero-Max Wind Turbine Couplings are now available as an upgrade replacement for existing wind turbines and for OEM applications.

Zero-Max couplings withstand high misalignment while remaining torsionally stiff. They are designed with composite disk packs at both ends of a center spacer. These uniquelydesigned disk packs provide high strength and generous flexibility. The composite disk packs(flex elements) provide a distinct advantage over other coupling component designs by allowinga surplus of parallel and axial misalignment while remaining torsionally stiff through all harmonicranges of the wind turbine’s oscillating load.

Depending on the application, Zero-Max’s center spacers can be machined out of steel,composite glass fiber, or 6061-T6 aluminum. Through the use of Finite Element Analysis (FEA), these center spacers can be engineered to withstand in excess of 100,000 Nm of torque.Zero-Max wind turbine couplings have many additional design advantages. The flexelements electrically insulate the turbine’s generator from the gear box, eliminating strayelectrical current that can leak across the coupling, thus preventing bearing damage to the gearbox. The coupling protects the generator by transferring lower reaction loads to the generatorbearings. Also, the coupling’s composite material withstands all types of environmentalelements, including temperature extremes from -40 to +70°C, and also moisture and chemicalsnative to the nacelles of wind turbines.