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If you rely on electric motors to power your business, consistent performance is key to keeping productivity and profit margins high. Unfortunately, so many Clients we are called out to are running their motors inefficiently –often only paying attention to their motors when they fail or begins to show drastic underperformance. To avoid downtime and keep your business moving, we’ve pulled together a 5-step checklist for improving AC and DC motor performance.
When businesses go through periods of growth, one of the things that rarely changes is their motor set up. Failing to ensure your motors are still the right ones for the job greatly increases the risk of a fault. To ensure your setup isn’t destined to fail, you should carry out a motor assessment, documenting how many motors you have, their last service or inspection? how old they are, their power ratings, the applications and load requirements? From this, you’ll be able to ascertain whether or not your motors are being used correctly, or being subject to higher or lower loads than recommended.
Check and Replace Carbon Brushes. Carbon brushes are an essential component within DC motors that are often neglected., Failure to replace carbon brushes at the correct time can result in poor performance, build-up of carbon dust, damage to vital components and even complete motor failure. If you notice excessive sparking from brush contact with the motor’s commutator, a decrease in performance from your motor, or a build up of carbon dust –it’s time to inspect and potentially replace your carbon brushes. As well as replacing carbon brushes when required, you should ensure that you are using the right kind of brush for your motor. Using the incorrect grade for the application or one that is poorly fitted results in premature wear, sparking, additional heating and ultimately damage to the motor.
Be Aware of Excessive Noise and Vibration. Any unusual or excessive noise or vibration is a sign that your motor is not operating correctly. This can indicate loose parts within the motor or with the mounting arrangement. Prolonged operation with excessive noise and vibration can result in a number of issues including overheating, damaged components, carbon brush sparking, carbon brush damage and winding faults –leading quickly to failure of your motor and costly remedial work. As well as taking note of any excessive noise and vibration from your motor, consider professional noise and vibration testing to ensure that any abnormal behaviourfrom your motor doesn’t result in a serious issue.
Take Note of Underperformance. If you are monitoring the performance of your machinery, then you may notice if the normal motor load current has increased or if it does not operate in the usual way. Whilst this isn’t always noticeable, you may be able to identify an increase in energy bills or production costs, which could be an early sign that one of your motors is underperforming.
Keep Your Motor Properly Maintained. Essential maintenance is a must for ensuring motor performance and efficiency remains as expected. Preventative maintenance contracts often come at a fraction of the cost of emergency repair and ensure zero costly downtime for your operation.
Improve Motor Performance With Mawdsleys. At Mawdsleys, we offer a complete service for AC and DC motors from installation to emergency repair –we can also offer preventative maintenance contracts to keep performance high.
If your motor has stopped working or is nuisance tripping then you may be able to diagnose the problem by performing a few basic checks.
If the indications suggest that a motor rewind is needed, then we can provide confirmation of this by carrying out tests at our Workshop.
Call us now on 0117 955 2481 for further help and advice.
The decision to repair or replace a failed motor is usually made by the Customer based on the costs and availability of a newunit. For a commercial grade motor this is a straightforward process as availability is not an issue, however for special motors, extensive repair work may be the only feasible option.
Here are some of the types of work that we are frequently undertaking from our Bristol Workshop:
Minor shaft damage -motor repairs Mawdsleys Bristol
If the bearing seatings or other shaft diameters are worn / damaged, then a process of chrome plating followed by a re-grind of the surfaces is carried out. In this instance, it looks as though the equipment mounted onto the shaft has been pulled off without sufficiently loosening the grub screw.
Major shaft damage -motor repairs Mawdsleys Bristol
If the shaft is running out of alignment or has severe damage, then a new shaft will be required. The drive end keyway of this motor has been damaged beyond repair and requires replacement. We can undertake the removal and remanufacture of any motor shaft.
Damaged bearing housing -motor repairs Mawdsleys Bristol
In certain circumstances, the bearing housing bores can become worn or damaged. We are able to correct this by boring the bearing housing and fitting a new machined bush to the required size.
Corroded drive end flanges -motor repairs MawdsleysBristol
In poor environments, corrosion will occur. Our overhaul procedures includes for removal of corrosion by shot blasting, and if required, machining back to base metal. For this motor, the drive end flange will require a weld and re-machine process to maintain the original dimensions.
Yes & No! It comes down to the mechanical integrity of the motor. If the components including the bearing
housings, the rotor and the shaft are in good condition then the motor can be rewound. If this isn’t the case we
can offer a refurbishment or replacement.
Fletcher Moorlands approach allows us to fully diagnose and provide the appropriate Information to indicate the
time to repair. We’ll provide you with that timescale so that you can make operational decisions.
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