Market overview and advantages of plain bearings
Types and market size of plain bearings:
Plain bearings are mainly divided into two categories: fluid lubricated bearings and self-lubricated bearings. Although these two types of bearings belong to the same category, there are obvious differences in working principle, structural design and application fields. According to the latest data, the global plain bearing market size reached 14.1 billion US dollars in 2020, while China's market size was 13.7 billion yuan, and the growth rate of both exceeded the average level of the entire bearing industry.
Advantages of plain bearings:
Plain bearings have a larger contact area than rolling bearings, which means they have a stronger load bearing capacity and impact resistance, and run more smoothly.Due to the elimination of the rolling element, the radial size of the plain bearing is smaller, which is especially suitable for those design situations requiring a compact structure. The cost reduction potential of "sliding instead of rolling"
Cost reduction and efficiency:
In the wind power industry, reducing costs and improving efficiency is an eternal theme. "Sliding instead of rolling", as a potential cost reduction scheme, is receiving more and more attention. At present, the vast majority of wind power bearings use rolling bearings, but with the development of wind turbines to the direction of larger capacity, the radial size of rolling bearings is too large, complex structure and other problems have gradually emerged, which poses a challenge to the cost and reliability.
Economic benefit analysis:
According to preliminary calculations, if the acquisition cost of sliding bearings is reduced by 30% compared with rolling bearings, the maintenance cost is reduced by 60%, and the cost of other equipment is reduced by lightweight design, then the acquisition cost of wind turbines can be reduced by 6.5% after the adoption of sliding bearings, and the bidding price of the Oems can be reduced by 5.2%. At the same time, the use of sliding bearings can also reduce the life cycle cost of wind power projects (considering the discounted value) by about 4.5%, helping to improve the overall rate of return of wind power projects. Market space outlook
Incremental market space:
Under the assumption of 100GW of new installed capacity and 50% plain bearing penetration in the future, it is expected that the annual incremental market space of domestic wind power plain bearing will reach about 14.5 billion yuan.Stock market space: At present, there are about 80GW of 1.5MW and below old wind turbines in China, most of which are located in areas with superior wind resources. Through the "big to small" transformation of these old wind farms, that is, replacing 1.5MW fans with 4MW high-power fans, it is expected to bring more than 30 billion yuan of potential stock replacement space. In summary, the application of plain bearings in the field of wind power can not only significantly reduce the purchase and maintenance costs, but also bring huge economic benefits to the wind power industry. With the progress of technology and the further expansion of the market, the application prospect of plain bearings in the field of wind power will be broader.
