Parametric Motor Health System Lessons Learned Through Failure

Abstract

Large motor trains installed in the cement industry are inexorably linked to critical processes and the failure of a unit may result in unplanned outages, deferred production, and substantial loss of revenue. Whether by error in protection, programming, installation, operation, or simply misfortune, the loss of critical equipment has far-reaching consequences for a cement installation and is often the cause of major changes in process or methodology. The desire to take rapid corrective action after a failure often leads to hurried investment, and this may fail to completely address the root causes. In this paper, a variety of characteristic motor failures and their contributing root-causes is analyzed so that a causative improvement system may be developed. This system can be applied before failure to assess the health and robustness of critical electrical equipment installed within a cement plant. By establishing a quantitative scorecard and comparing this to historical data, an early-warning system is derived which can be used to identify deficiencies in equipment and guide maintenance resources with the maximum return on investment.