Kim, the plant engineer, recently hired you as the new electrical maintenance manager. Kim is an industrial engineer (IE ) and is counting on you to sort out several mysteries that he believes are electrical in nature.
One of those is what he calls “the astounding rate of motor failure in this plant.” Kim has worked at four other plants in his career, so he’s got some basis for comparison. His first idea was that the motors simply weren’t having their PMs completed. However, he went through the maintenance records and found that quarterly PMs were shown as completed.
His next step was to have a technician take vibration readings on a random sampling of motors in various areas of the plant. The data from this didn’t lead to any solutions because nearly all of the motors were fine.
Where would you look?
First, conduct some basic power tests to ensure you don’t have excess voltage imbalance or low power factor.
Next, turn your attention to that quarterly motor maintenance. This high frequency is your first clue that improper maintenance is causing high failure rates. Motors don’t need quarterly maintenance. What are the maintenance techs doing quarterly? If they are squirting grease into each motor, that’s likely your problem. To fix this:
- Determine the correct lubrication frequency, grease, and method per manufacturer’s instructions or industry standard practices (e.g., change the grease annually for a continuous duty motor). Update the PMs accordingly.
- Install wireless vibration monitors on each motor and eliminate manual testing from the PMs.
- Install a power monitoring system and eliminate manual feeder or branch voltage checks from all PMs.
About the Author
Mark Lamendola
Mark is an expert in maintenance management, having racked up an impressive track record during his time working in the field. He also has extensive knowledge of, and practical expertise with, the National Electrical Code (NEC). Through his consulting business, he provides articles and training materials on electrical topics, specializing in making difficult subjects easy to understand and focusing on the practical aspects of electrical work.
Prior to starting his own business, Mark served as the Technical Editor on EC&M for six years, worked three years in nuclear maintenance, six years as a contract project engineer/project manager, three years as a systems engineer, and three years in plant maintenance management.
Mark earned an AAS degree from Rock Valley College, a BSEET from Columbia Pacific University, and an MBA from Lake Erie College. He’s also completed several related certifications over the years and even was formerly licensed as a Master Electrician. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and past Chairman of the Kansas City Chapters of both the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. Mark also served as the program director for, a board member of, and webmaster of, the Midwest Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. He has also held memberships with the following organizations: NETA, NFPA, International Association of Webmasters, and Institute of Certified Professional Managers.