Motor maintenance program

[Thedroid]

I'm looking for some advice on starting a motor maintenance program, and would like to know what others in the field are doing. We don't have a thermal imager, and I don't think we have any vibration analysis equipment. I suggested today that we should start doing an insulation resistance test on new motors, and log the temp and the readings for later use. We do hook up all new motors and read the no load amps, but that's it. One of the veterans told me that it's very rare for one of our motors to fail due to insulation. It's almost always bearing failure. Another issue is that our critical motors run continously until the yearly shutdown. We do read the amps and read the motor and bearing temp with an infrared thermometer on a daily basis. Is there any other checks I can do to contribute to the reliability of the plant. The place is so reliable that I have plenty of time to do these kinds of things.

Cement Plant Electrician and
Instrumentation Technician

 

[ankervik]

If bearing problems are the main concern take a look at SPM instruments. They are reasonably priced & easy to use.