Briefing: Drives and motors - maintenance and efficiency

Process Engineering focus on current maintenance, repair and efficiency issues in the area of drives and motors, including news, comment, applications and technical developments:

Top Stories

UK industry is largely mismanaging motor inventory, according to industry experts, citing the high level of LV motors still showing up in repair company workshops. Read more

The process plant of the future will consume much less energy than their present-day equivalents, thanks to much greater use of automation, as well as intelligent systems and devices in areas, including pumps, compressors and motors. Read more

ERIKS report highlights five important aspects of adopting an asset management approach to motor maintenance. Read more

Recent changes made to the CRC scheme should not deter investment in energy-saving equipment such as variable speed drives (VSDs) and high-efficiency electric motors, Brammer has urged. Read more

The market for LV integral horsepower AC motors will double in revenues to $19.4 billion, IMS forecasts. Read more

Applications

Scottish Water has trialled new Technology based on the use of variable speed drives to prevent pump blockages at its Levenhall Sewage Pumping Station (SPS), which had been the worst site for blockages in its south-east operating area.
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UPM has completed an extensive low voltage AC drive refurbishment programme at its Shotton Paper’s recycled fibre (RCF) plant (RCF): failures of drives from three suppliers previously accounted for over 5% of downtime at the facility. Read more

When a large, bespoke-framed fan motor failed at Rio Tinto Alcan the consequences could have been significant: without the 920kW 3.3kV motor used for unloading powdered alumina at the ship unloading facility left it temporarily unable to re-stock its UK smelting sites. Read more

Cornish machine builder Western Mechanical Handling (WMH) UK Ltd has recently developed a new technology for depositing Yorkshire pudding batter into baking moulds for a frozen foods manufacturer. Read more

Technologies to watch

ABB is launching a motor assessment scheme to encourage the process industry to uncover the true cost of running electric motors. Research by the company suggests that UK industry is failing to efficiently manage its motor inventory, thereby incurring millions of pounds of unnecessary downtime, repair and energy costs. Read more

SKF and Baker Instrument Co. have launched NetEP, an online motor analysis system to enable ongoing automated evaluation of critical electric motor assets, reducing the cost of ownership. Read more

Rockwell Automation has developed the Lifecycle Service Agreement, a support offering to minimise the risk associated with using older or discontinued Rockwell Automation products. Read more

Comment

Managing motors

Always reassuring to see that for all the impressive and continuing advances in many areas of technology, success, and indeed survival, in the process industries still comes back to the quality of people employed within organisations. The point was well illustrated recently when Process Engineering took a look at motor maintenance issues. Read more