Efficient Plant April 2020 - 22

motor solutions

Establish
Motor-VFD PM

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION
IS "WHERE DO I START?"
Most often a motor-system maintenance and management
program can be a significant investment to start from scratch.
When beginning with a clean slate, the first step is to know
what you own by surveying your electrically driven equipment.
In a successful program, start small with a department or
single building. Then perform a simple analysis to determine
the safety, regulatory, and financial impact of each system and
select those that will have the largest impact first.

CHANCES ARE, AS YOU DEVELOP THE
CONDITION-BASED MAINTENANCE
PROGRAM,

electric motor repairs will be necessary. Address this by
developing or adopting motor-repair specifications and
repair-versus-replace decision trees. If you do not already
have a repair specification prepared, consider either a simple
specification such as the ANSI/EASA AR100 or the more
robust IEEE Standard 1068.

The first step in establishing a motor-system maintenance and management program
is to know what you own by surveying your electrically driven equipment.

ALL TYPES of electric motors remain the prime movers of industrial and
commercial applications, efficiently converting more than 68% of electrical
energy to mechanical energy. While sometimes identified as the energy consumer in electrically driven equipment, they actually consume very little. Primary electrical consumption occurs with the driven load and related processes.
Adjusting and tuning these systems is often done with variable-frequency
drives. If the overall system is not properly maintained, efficiency drops and
it becomes difficult to match motor output speed with fluid flow, gas flow, or
pressure.
Scaling a program around just the motor and drive can still be a significant
undertaking, depending on the size and voltage of the motor and drive combination. It involves understanding the context of the application and the overall
impact of defects surrounding the energy converter. There are times when a
50-hp motor and drive can be considered run to failure and times when a 1-hp
setup can be considered critical equipment.

Contact Howard W. Penrose, PhD, CMRP; MotorDoc LLC,
at hpenrose@motordocllc.com

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EP2004rmcmotors.indd 22

ONCE THE RULES FOR REPAIR ARE
ESTABLISHED,

the program may be developed around the motors and drives.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technologies, Washington (energy.gov), has resources in these
areas, including the online book, Improving Motor and Drive
System Performance Sourcebook, which was developed by
industry and is available at: https://www.energy.gov/sites/
prod/files/2014/04/f15/amo_motors_sourcebook_web.pdf.
While this document will provide some ideas and guidelines,
a motors program should consider, at a minimum:
A lubrication program that includes an understanding of what
grease is being used for grease-lubricated motors and what
oil is being used for oil-lubricated bearings. For ball and
roller bearings, the proper selection of grease and compatibility needs to be understood.
Cleaning cooling passages and replacing or cleaning any
filters or external fans. This will help the motor and drive stay
cool. Within a VFD, an annual vacuuming (de-energized) and
tightening of power-related connections is recommended.
Develop a system of purchasing and tracking spare parts. EP
-Howard W. Penrose

APRIL 2020

3/27/20 12:38 PM

http://www.energy.gov https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/04/f15/amo_motors_sourcebook_web.pdf http://www.EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM

Efficient Plant April 2020

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