July 2007Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration
The All-Test Pro range of test instruments for field testing of electrical motors, generators and transformers has been introduced by Comtest.
All-Test Pro on-line motor analyser
Richard Scott of All-Test Pro explains the importance of this test instrumentation: "Electric motors experience both mechanical and electrical failures. Nearly 47% of failures in AC induction motors are electrical. Less than 20% of these electrical faults begin as an insulation to ground fault, instead they start as an inner turn or coil fault, which cannot be detected with an insulation to ground tester. Therefore you need something different that allows the user to detect these electrical winding faults well before the motor actually fails.
"As well as offline test instruments to detect these faults before failure, All-Test Pro also has online testing equipment for performing electrical signature analysis. The latter allows the electrician to look at the system from incoming power through to the motor, through the driven load, to detect both electrical and mechanical faults with only 60 seconds' worth of test data. With offline testing, many facilities can achieve an immediate financial payback just by using the equipment for incoming inspection and troubleshooting."
The test equipment has application in diverse industries such as municipal, mining, food processing, high-tech manufacturing and wood products. The entire range is handheld, portable and battery-operated and is aimed at people who need to field-test electrical motors, transformers and generators.
Comtest business development manager Ravi Lachman explains how the All-Test Pro range fits in with existing Comtest products. "This is a complementary range for Comtest. We have a thermography range that can be used to establish a heat-related problem, temperature being the first sign of a problem. Then we need to drill down to the actual cause of the heat within the motor, which is where the All-Test Pro range comes into play."
He adds that for companies with a predictive maintenance programme already in place, using this equipment enhances their programme. However, companies who do not yet have a predictive maintenance programme in place can easily justify the cost of the equipment because of the money and time it will save. Additionally, the software that comes with the test equipment will allow them to document and start building up a motor's history which can be used in future predictive maintenance programmes.
Electric motor commissioning testing
Richard Scott of All-Test Pro gives these suggestions:
* Test a motor prior to installation to prevent production loss arising from the unexpected failure of new motors on startup.
* Test a motor prior to sending it out to be rewound and then again when it returns to ensure that the repair facility repaired the motor correctly.
* Motor systems are complex to troubleshoot as they include a distribution transformer, the control system, the motor itself and the driven load. To try to troubleshoot this complex system with just a MegOhm meter or multimeter is not enough. To reduce mean time to repair use an offline motor testing instrument from the motor control centre to determine whether the motor, cable and connections are healthy or not.
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