Contactar Sr.

Dennys Richard Townsend (0xx81) 34311642

Motor Testing Tip

What do you do if you have a significant current unbalance, but all of your test instruments are telling you that the motor circuit is good? For instance, in several recent calls, we have heard: MCA, MCSA, vibration and power quality show the motor good, the voltage is balanced to a fraction of a volt, but we have a sizeable current unbalance (ie: greater than 10%). What do we do? Current unbalance can be caused by a great many issues, the primary issue is, of course, voltage unbalance where the current unbalance may be up to about 20 times the voltage unbalance. This is a normal problem where the key is to find where the voltage unbalance originates. In very few other cases, a significant current unbalance would be due to a winding fault. If you were to see a significant current unbalance due to a shorted winding, you would be very lucky as the fault, once it has progressed to the level that you could see it in current unbalance, would happen very quickly, and you would see the fault with at least one of the test instruments. The remaining cases can be elusive and caused by: A bad transformer; Faults in parallel circuits; Unbalanced circuit impedances before the motor; and, severe power factor issues (and unbalances). There is an old and accurate trick that I would use when I was in the field service business: If all else fails, rotate the phases. By switching lead 1 to 2, 2 to 3, and 3 to 1, you maintain your direction of rotation. If the fault then stays on the same leg of the motor, you have a motor fault (ie: really bad core steel), if the fault stays with the incoming phase, then the fault is in the circuit. Because of the time involved, and the accuracy of modern instrumentation, this should be a step taken after testing with other methods. It will reduce your troubleshooting times when all else fails. Tip provided by TOTAL Townsend Termo Arte Ltda www.analisedemotores.com.br Tel: 55-81-3431.1642 e-mail: townsend@hotlink.com.br

Profissionais Tcnicos Responsveis: Dennys Richard Townsend - Tcnico Analista Reyson F. dos Santos - Eng. Eletricista

TOTAL Townsend Termo Arte Ltda www.analisedemotores.com.br Tel: 55-81-3431.1642 e-mail: townsend@hotlink.com.br

Contactar Sr. Dennys Richard Townsend (0xx81) 34311642

NOTE: The percent increase in motor heating is about twice the square of the percent voltage unbalance. Thus a 3 % voltage unbalance yields an 18 % increase in heating.

Profissionais Tcnicos Responsveis: Dennys Richard Townsend - Tcnico Analista Reyson F. dos Santos - Eng. Eletricista

TOTAL Townsend Termo Arte Ltda www.analisedemotores.com.br Tel: 55-81-3431.1642 e-mail: townsend@hotlink.com.br