ABB motor e-book outlines top tips
E-book offers advice on keeping motors in tip-top condition to reduce failure and downtime
ABB have introduced an e-book to help electric motor end-users reduce motor downtime by charting the most common causes of failure and offering tips on how to resolve them.
The five common causes of motor failure relate to bearings (51%), stator windings (16%), external conditions (16%), the rotor bar and shaft couplings.
The e-book will guide the reader through each cause using infographics and built-in navigation options to allow users to view the different sections of the e-book according to their specific areas of interest.
The main sources of bearing problems are often insufficient or incompatible greases, overheating, overloading, contamination or high ambient temperatures and humidity. These can all have a severe impact on an electric motor and if not addressed can lead to a 50% fall in life expectancy.
The e-book offers plenty of tips to overcome these challenges including how often to check and re-lubricate motor bearings, the best way to avoid misalignment and how to deal with issues such as soft foot.
David Hawley, ABB UK’s motors and generators business unit manager, said: ‘If specified, installed and maintained correctly, there is no reason why a modern electric motor should fail. The engineering precision and technology that goes into today’s motors makes them the most reliable ever.’
Despite the advances in motor technology, however, electric motors do still fail and cause production outages for manufacturing companies. The reasons for failure are often very simple and usually come down to a lack of a maintenance schedule, incorrect specification for the application and failure to take into account the operating environment of the motor.
‘It is clear that there is still some confusion around how to make an electric motor run with minimum failure risk, so this is why ABB developed this e-book to give users a very simple way of spotting any potential failure causes early,’ added Mr Hawley.
‘It also offers advice on the things to look out for when looking to specify a new electric motor. Combining this element gives end-users a complete guide to electric motors, whether they are specifying a new motor, carrying out maintenance tasks or simply troubleshooting an installed motor and are looking for some guidance.’
The e-book can be ordered by e-mailing: energy@gb.abb.com with ‘e-book’ as the subject line.
