A BEARING ASSEMBLY FOR A VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINE

摘要

The present invention relates to a vertical axis wind turbine. The wind turbine comprises: a tower; a generator, comprising a rotor and a stator; and a bearing assembly. The bearing assembly is coupled to the tower, and is adapted to support a substantially vertical main mast of the wind turbine. The bearing assembly is also adapted to resist axial loads, radial loads and moment loads from the main mast. The stator of the generator is coupled to the bearing assembly, and the rotor of the generator is adapted to be coupled to the substantially vertical main mast by means of the bearing assembly. The ratio of the distance from the mid plane of the bearing to the mid plane of the generator rotor to the length of the main mast is less than 0.1. The invention also relates to a bearing assembly for a vertical axis wind turbine, and to methods of installing a vertical axis wind turbine and maintaining a vertical axis wind turbine.