Systems driven by electric motors consume more than half of the electricity produced in the US and more than 70% of the electricity used in commercial plants. Energy costs are at a premium, so improving the efficiency of your motor is in everyone’s best interest. An effective way of improving your company’s bottom line, and benefitting the environment, is to find the most efficient way to run electric motors in your facility. Fortunately, motor tools, maintenance systems, and technologies are continuing to evolve rapidly so that increasing your motor’s efficiency is much easier and the smallest investments can create significant savings. There are three general ways to increase the efficiency of your motor. These are:

• Survey the age, horsepower, and rating of each motor. Identify the highest and most critical loads and evaluate their energy consumption. Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) can easily improve a motor’s efficiency. They are able to easily shift a motor to a point where it can reach optimal efficiency and perform the same activities without spending the effort that is usually required when working without a VFD. These types of drives are especially effective in applications where drag is a factor such as air conditioning systems, fan systems, heating, ventilation, and centrifugal pumps. In many companies, VFDs are part of an environmental incentive program to implement energy-efficient programs.
• Identify immediate improvements or repairs that you can make such as changes to the units or unit operation. There are three inspection points to make to all motors that you want to keep operational. These are the voltage unbalance, current unbalance and power factor. It is vital to size electric motors carefully for the best fit to ensure reliable cost savings. Certain motors and processes require more energy than others, while others may run slower or carry less capacity as even the latest technology may run inefficiently with a reduced load. To avoid wasting potential, a motor’s potential load and its standard operating load should be almost the same.
• Many companies implement a maintenance program to prevent their equipment from failure. These kinds of failure can result in added downtime, costly part replacements or repairs and increased labor needs. However, routine maintenance allows workers to identify motor problems before they become serious. Necessary repairs can then occur during scheduled downtimes so that operations can continue to run smoothly. Other routine or predictive maintenance programs can extend the life of your motors such as dynamic balancing, infrared thermography, laser alignment, and oil, winding and motor vibration analysis.

Premco, Inc. is a sales, engineering, design and service company that will repair or replace a full range of commercial motors and power generation equipment used in the largest commercial enterprises. We can sell, source and repair any brand of a motor including AO-Smith, Baldor/Reliance, Emerson, GE, Leeson/Lincoln, Sew and many others. Contact our knowledgeable and helpful customer service team at (914) 380-7288 or email sales@premcoinc.net. We look forward to hearing from you