Motor Testing & Surge Analysis

With facilities dependent on a steady supply of electric power and continuous operation of electric motors, any disruptions in these processes could prove disastrous to a company’s productivity and profitability. Most proactive companies want to employ predictive maintenance practices on their motors; that catch was that this often required that the motor to be shut down for access.

Today, however, portable monitoring equipment allows for the dynamic evaluation electrical motor condition without shutting down your process.

Monitoring and analysis can identify problems that could harm equipment performance, result in motor failure, and leave a company with extensive downtime and lost production.

BET can provide Analysis of comparative Surge Testing data to determine the condition of the motor windings. This is testing can be used in an acceptance, go/no-go test, and trending.

The power analysis provides insight into incoming power quality, power circuit condition, stator health and motor efficiency. The three-phase current and voltage signal can be captured in less than a minute and stored for diagnostics and trending.

Power quality is diagnosed using total harmonic distortion (THD) and crest factor (CF) calculations. Distortion in the signal, often the result of nonlinear loads, produces additional heat within the motor that will reduce life if not acted upon.

The power circuit and stator are evaluated through the use of unbalance parameters and sequence data. Rising negative sequence currents coupled with a high impedance imbalance is indicative of developing stator faults.

Current analysis is performed through a combination of spectral graphs and software automation, which allows the user to identify defects in the rotor and air gap fault zones and record motor startup. Rotor bar defects and eccentricity, static or dynamic can be detected and trended.

BET’s reports include a series of graphs, screen plots and historical comparisons. These reporting capabilities clearly illustrate the status of rotors, stators, power quality and other fault zones, allowing you to discover and evaluate possible problems before they result in lost productivity from forced downtime.