Motor Testing
Electrical Insulation Failure
Electrical Insulation is used to direct current through a desired path and prevent it from flowing where it is not desired. Proper electrical insulation is critical to an electric motor’s performance and longevity. Insulation breakdown is one of the most frequent causes of electric motor failure. In electric generators, for instance, 56% of failures originate from electrical insulation damage.
- Mark Koch
- ALL-TEST Pro, LLC
Gear Box Failure on Cooling Tower Induction Motor Fan
The large motors in this power plant are attached to a gear box, which is attached to a cooling fan inside the cooling tower. All components are enclosed inside a shroud, making a visual inspection difficult and costly. A knocking noise, possibly coming from inside the shroud, was detected. But was it the motor or the gear box? Watch the video to learn how the problem was analyzed without disassembling the shroud.
- Noah Bethel
- PdMA Corporation
Electrical Frequencies Calculation and AC Motor Faults Patterns. Part 1
The fault diagnosis of induction motors, being probably the most common drivers used for industrial machinery plays an important role to reduce the catastrophic failures and production lost tonnage.
- Pawel Lecinski
- CMRP
Trending DC Field Inductance in an Aluminum Mill Coil Motor
A critical 600 hp motor was redesigned to 750 hp and was running at 900 hp, which created excessive heat. To avoid catastrophic failure, motor was tested every three weeks. The Megohmmeter reading was normal, so how did they know there was a problem? Watch this video and learn.
- Noah Bethel
- PdMA Corporation
How Can RAM Help This Compression Unit?
A compression unit consists of several components and can experience many types of asset interruptions, all of which impact your availability. Our RAM model can predict the facility production deliverability…
- Rami Al-Shneiber
- Aramco
Troubleshooting a Failed Induction Motor
The vibration team suspects a problem with a critical motor at a large pulp and paper facility. Watch this video and learn how the MCEMAX was used to diagnose a significant rotor fault and avoid a $120,000 cost.
- Noah Bethel
- PdMA Corporation
Condemning a Motor Using MCA™
Experience has shown that 20 to 40 percent of motor systems tested may have some sort of alarm condition. Just because a motor has exceeded the alarm limits in MCA Basic™ or MCA PRO™, it does not necessarily mean the motor will fail or should be stopped immediately. For over 30 years, the dedicated staff at ALL-TEST Pro have gathered data and resources to determine when a motor will most likely fail on the most common 3-phase squirrel cage motors.
- Mark Koch
- ALL-TEST Pro, LLC
Reading and Understanding Key Accelerometer Specifications
There are many ways to evaluate an IEPE (Integrated Electronic PiezoElectric) sensor, or accelerometer, either on its own merits or in comparison to similar competitive models found on the market. The most obvious is a paper comparison, using the spec sheet as a guide. Other options include acquiring the contending sensors and putting them to the test or obtaining word-of-mouth inputs, each of which will likely result in a different conclusion. The most common starting point, however, is a spec sheet appraisal.
- Peter Eitnier
- Wilcoxon Sensing Technologies
Replace The Motor Or The VFD?
On start-up a fault code was received on a VFD operating an exhaust fan at a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. Was it the motor or the VFD?
- Noah Bethel
- PdMA Corporation