Motors and Drives

Inside Advanced Energy’s Motor Test Lab | November 2005

A quarterly electronic publication for companies applying electric motors

Testing Your Product
Invitation to the Motor and Drive Systems 2006 Conference “Save $400”

Our Hearts go out to the victims of the recent hurricanes and their families and friends. There is little consolation in the old adage that “time heals all wounds.” We sincerely hope that time will be kind to them.

Testing Your Product
Working to achieve reliability

Advanced Energy’s Motor Test Lab is known worldwide for its accuracy and repeatability in testing motors, motor drives and power quality technologies. We also are known for our motor and drives consulting services. An example of this type of consulting service is our “Motor Build Inspection and Analysis” (MBIA) program. Occasionally, though, one of our clients will ask us for help in testing other items. This is the topic of the “Testing Your Product” section of this quarter’s newsletter.

We concluded endurance testing on an incumbent motor and a challenger for one of our most valued clients. After 200,000 test cycles, we determined that the challenger offered the best performance and greater probability for trouble-free service in their application.

They then asked us to test a “reversing switch” for mechanical and electrical endurance under another 200,000 cycles. Once engaged, this switch operates the motors mentioned above and, if proven reliable, would offer additional significant costs savings to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Advanced Energy agreed to design and conduct a test evaluating the switch.

Using a control and monitoring scheme, an actuator test rig was built to activate the switch in three positions reversing motors under load. To make the test as realistic as possible, Advanced Energy began the test using the surviving motors that had already performed 200,000 endurance cycles as the load motors for the switch test. During the switch test, four incumbent motors failed, and one challenger motor failed. The only motor to complete the entire switch test was a challenger motor that had already been cycled 200,000 times.

So in conclusion, we did a specialty (switch endurance) test for a client and at the same time that we put an exclamation point on our previous test conclusions. One challenger motor completed a total of 400,000 start/stop operations and was still going strong. You might say this was a two for the price of one.

We Invite You to Attend the Motor and Drive Systems 2006 Conference
Advanced Energy is registered as a Supporting Organization for the Motor and Drive Systems 2006 Conference, scheduled for Feb. 15-16, 2006, in Miami, Fla. In addition, we will moderate a panel session called “Outsourcing Motors – Pros and Cons.” We invite you to attend this conference and to contribute to a spirited discussion during the question and answer portion of the panel session. When registering reference the source code (AE) and save $400 off the regular registration fee. You must register no later than Jan. 15 to receive this discounted rate. We hope to see you there.

Inside Advanced Energy’s Motor Test Lab brings you the latest information about our strategic plans to enhance our testing capabilities especially in the area of motor reliability. For more information about Advanced Energy’s motor test and consulting capabilities, visit our website at www.advancedenergy.org or contact David Berkowitz at 919 857-9047 or dberkowitz@advancedenergy.org.