Did you know that more than 70% of  the U.S.  industrial electricity consumption involves motor-driven systems used mostly for pumps, fans, blower systems, and air compression?  That’s a lot of motors and a lot of motor repair needs.

You can avoid motor problems by implementing these simple strategies:

1. Buy the right motor for your application.  Make sure your motor(s) can handle 3.1 times the line voltage at a 0.1 microsecond rise time.  This is not the time to be a penny pincher.
2. Define your parameters .  This avoids overheating in constant-torque applications. At too low a speed, a TEFC motor will overheat.

Did you know that many modern control systems are now designed for a minimum 30-year lifespan?  Hmmm.

Many early systems are still going strong that were installed in the ’90s, ’80s and even some from the 1970s.  But you probably already knew that since so many of you send us your controllers for repairs.

The weaker links in these older systems are the operator terminals, disk drives, power supplies, keyboards, and CRT’s as they often have mechanical or electrical parts that simply wear out.  Many of these units can be repaired and if not, replaced with refurbs or updated, drop-in replacements.

Variable frequency drives for motor driven systems is pretty much a no-brainer what with the energy savings and process improvements.  If you are looking for some beneficial reasons to invest in a VFD take a look at this post I wrote awhile back http://www.acsindustrial.com/blog/industrial-electronic-repair-services/install-a-variable-speed-drive-and-reap-the-rewards/.  If you want to know the story about this bad-a@# drive read on.

Like anything else in your plant, drives can break down like the pictured Fuji drive .  This drive comes out of a facility making turned parts and they are busy…well, they were busy.   This drive has had a number of failures and alarms over the past year and eventually overheated, stalled the machine and melted the drill in the work piece. And as a final insult, when in constant surface speed the drive alarms out under voltage when the spindle accelerates hard.