Maintenance of Electrical

Motors and Associated

Apparatus

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 Motor Preventive Maintenance

Any electric motor PM program should be designed with these four elements
in mind:
1. Inspection and test
2. Lubrication and impregnation
3. Cleaning
4. Protection and safety measures

The four element approach contains the following steps:

1. Inspection. We need to determine what is to be inspected, the

equipment has to be examined, visible defects have to be identified,
and we have to make sure that minor adjustments are made and major
defects are being reported. General motor inspection should be
directed toward these components:

a) Air passages.

 Inspect rotor and stator air passages for obstructions on

explosion- proof motors and totally enclosed fan cooled motors.
 Air filters on weather-protected (WP II) motors.
 Inertia filters, filter media and remote fans on pipe ventilated
motors.

b) Bearings.

 Inspect for over greasing or under greasing.

 Inspect for dirt and foreign matter in bearing housings.
 Check periodically for proper alignment to avoid bearing
overloads.

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 c) Motor windings.

 Keep them cool.

 Keep them clean.
 Inspect stator winding air gaps.

d) Squirrel cage rotors.

 Inspect for heat checked end rings.

 Inspect for fractured rotor bars.

e) Winding insulation values.

f) Vibration monitoring.

 Set limits for small motors as a function of speed.

 Set limits for large motors.

2. Lubrication. Lubrication practices on antifriction bearing motors

vary widely. We should determine proper lubricants, quantities, and
equipment. After establishing a lubrication schedule, it has to be
implemented.

3. Cleaning. We need to determine cleaning standards and

requirements, establish a cleaning schedule and implement it.

4. Protection and Safety. Safety requirements have to be established,

safety equipment installed, and its effectiveness monitored.

The task that follows now is the building of appropriate check lists for each
PM element. It should contain the following information:
1. Motor name and “yard” number.
2. Location.
3. Frequency designation of PM activity.

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 4. Operation sequence number.
5. A simple description of the PM operation using verbs at the beginning
of a sentence.
6. Required tools and/or special equipment and instruments.
7. Required replacement parts.
8. Required time to perform PM activity.
9. Space for the inspector’s comments or any other special comments.
After the various electric motor PM checklists have been developed, thought
should be given to the implementation of the program. Two main
considerations will help in the implementation of the motor PM program.
They are motor criticality and the cost of the program.
To determine whether an electrical motor is critical, one has to look at the
cost implications of a failure. For instance, the breakdown of an unspared
4,000 horsepower ethylene refrigeration compressor drive motor would have
a different financial impact than a small motor driving a fully spared water
pump in a batch type cleaning operation. As to the case of the 4,000 HP
pipe-ventilated induction motor, there would be no question as to whether a
PM program should be considered. Frequently, cleaning and inspection of
this critical motor becomes an integral part of the process plant’s turnaround
preparations. Figure 9 illustrates the elaborate fixture necessary to
accomplish the task on site in an economical way.
However, there are a multitude of cases where a decision to do or not to do
PM on motors does not appear that straightforward. Questions that should be
answered during the development of the implementation schedule
for an electric motor PM program are:
1. How critical is the motor?
2. What will operation downtime cost?

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 3. Is similar or alternate equipment available?
4. Are spare motors available or easy to obtain?
5. Are major spare parts such as winding coils and bearings available?
6. What is the motor failure experience?
7. What is its age?
8. What is the motor operating severity?

Figure 6. Field removal of rotor for winding cleaning and inspection

of a large pipe ventilated induction motor.

In conclusion, it is necessary to determine the benefits and costs of an

electrical motor PM program. Only after its cost factors have been compared
to current maintenance practices and other related downtime costs can it be
determined if a motor PM program will truly support itself.