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Health check
Motors and drives are the backbone of any industrial automation system. They are becoming increasingly complex and technical, so making sure all systems are running at peak performance continues to be a growing concern. Increased energy costs as a result of motors and drives issues is as much a concern as the motor life span. Failing motors will cause additional costs in repair / replacement parts, but potentially a much bigger cost is related to equipment downtime and a stop to production. As you can see it's important to manage preventive maintenance effectively. By using the right tools to help you diagnose the areas that are most prone to failure, you can prolong the life of the motor and save energy as well. Five key tests or inspections frequently recommended include: thermal, vibration, shaft alignment, insulation resistance and electrical measurements, which are all fairly quick and easy to complete using various test and measurement tools.Advanced Motor Drive test tools - Fluke MDA series
One way of making efficiencies and also significant cost savings, is to use variable frequency drives (VFD). However this often leads to many complex challenges when testing or troubleshooting. While trying to ensure maximum uptime and to extend the life of the motor, you may often encounter these issues:• Specialists are generally needed to carry out the testing, using a number of test instruments including oscilloscope and digital multimeters.
• A lot of trial and error is often required using the age old process of elimination - Where on the system do you start testing, as normally there is not much historical data.
• Due to complexity of motor systems inspection generally only occurs when a fault occurs, or annually at best.
The Fluke Motor Drive Analysers MDA-510 and MDA-550 have been designed to overcome these issues and make motor drive testing easier, faster, more efficient and insightful with the capability to document the process at each step along the way. Reports can be stored and compared against subsequent tests to get a bigger picture of motor drive maintenance history.
Vibration Measurement - Fluke 805
When vibration increases beyond normal levels, it may indicate either normal wear and tear or it may be a sign of pending process failure, such as a shaft misalignment. Understanding and identifying in advance any changes to the norm, can be critical in deciding whether further assessment of the underlying issue or immediate maintenance action is required. The Fluke 805 FC Vibration Meter is a reliable, repeatable and accurate vibration screening device that provides a severity-scaled reading of overall vibration, bearing health and machine health.
Power Quality Measurement - Fluke 430 Series
One of the most common causes of motor overheating is when there is an unbalance of electrical current. This can be caused by several things including power delivery problems, low voltage on one leg, or insulation resistance breakdown inside the motor windings. With the Fluke 430 Series Three-Phase Power Quality Analysers, you can check all three legs of a three-phase system at the same time, but you can also detect transient voltage as well. Connecting an ac current clamp such as the ac3000FC, you can also check the current draw on each of the three legs, which can be saved and shared easily using a smart phone and the Fluke connect application. Thermal Inspection - Fluke Thermal Imaging Cameras
High temperatures don’t necessarily mean there is a problem. However, if a component has a higher temperature than similar components or previously recorded readings, then this might mean something is wrong. The easiest way for thermal inspection of electrical and mechanical motor components is by using an infrared camera or infrared thermometer. Find out the top 5 inspection points, and more about the Fluke range of cameras with the following videos:
Insulation Resistance - Fluke 1587
Measuring the insulation resistance of motor windings can help you detect deterioration caused by heat, age, corrosion, dirt, moisture and excessive vibration before the motor fails. It can also enable you to get a motor back into operation the easy way, by simply replacing a cable. The Fluke 1587 combines the function of insulation resistance testing with all of the most common digital multimeter functions.
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