Electric motors and drives tip: Don't forget reliability

Given the sometimes frenzied movement in the effort to go green, maintenance management may overlook the fact that maintaining reliability can pay dividends toward efficiency while improving the bottom line. Over the next six weeks, PdMA Corporation’s “Don't Forget Reliability” six-tip series will explore the impact of each of the six fault zones on motor efficiency.

Part One – Power Quality
Focus on the Power Quality Fault Zone follows the increasing use and reliance on AC and DC drives. Concerns about power quality include elevated distortion or imbalance of voltage and current signals supplying the motor or motor drive. Left undetected, these issues can create elevations in winding temperature above acceptable levels, which can lead to a malfunction or shorten the motor's lifespan. At minimum this increased operating temperature, a product of inefficient harmonic rich power, reduces the system efficiency and wastes precious power.

For more information on the effects of reliability on motor efficiency, go to http://www.pdma.com/pdfs/Articles/WhitePapers/ Motor_Efficiency_and_Fault_Zone_Analysis.pdf.