ABB calls for better electric motor data
ABB says that it wants the electric motor industry to give a clearer indication of motor reliability (such as running temperature, alongside efficiency levels and motor noise) in its technical motor data.
Although motors fail through winding breakdown and bearing failures, the root cause of these failures could be lack of understanding on the part of the customer, says Steve Ruddell, ABB's general manager for motors and drives in the UK.
"In our experience, we believe that many of these winding and bearing failures are a direct result of motors running too hot," says Ruddell. "For example, you may be told that your bearing has run dry. While in some instances this may be down to a poor re-greasing regime, it is also possible that the motor was simply too hot and the grease degraded prematurely."
ABB says that it is also concerned that efficiency classifications, such as Eff1, Eff2 and Eff3, are also being taken as a measure of the reliability of a machine. It is not necessarily the case that certification also indicates high quality and high reliability, Ruddell says. "Our experience shows that there are some motors which achieve Eff1 status at the cost of significant drawbacks. These manifest themselves in many ways: increased running temperatures and excessive noise being a couple of examples."
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