The global geared motors market experienced significant growth from 2021 to 2023, driven by market recovery following the pandemic in 2020, and high backlog levels in 2022. However, by the end of 2023, this growth came to an abrupt halt as backlogs diminished and global demand declined sharply, particularly in China. Currency fluctuations had a smaller impact compared to previous years, although the depreciation of Asian currencies against the US dollar hindered growth figures reported in dollar terms.
Geared motor suppliers are prioritising energy efficiency and sustainability through innovative design solutions. New designs lower costs, and boost sustainability. Some suppliers now offer geared motors without paint or coating, using aluminium housings. These are ideal for indoor factory settings, eliminating the need for energy-intensive coatings. Aluminium‘s resistance to corrosion under normal conditions further enhances durability. This approach reduces energy use, cuts resource consumption, and simplifies recycling, while also eliminating the need for repainting after repairs, benefiting both sustainability and profitability.
Geared motors strategic issues
Standardisation: It is crucial to strike a balance between employing a chosen range of geared motors with torque ratings that can be utilised across a broad variety of applications, and using solutions that are specifically tailored to each application. Standardisation minimises inventory holding costs by minimising the number of spare parts. Standardisation on a small number of geared motors, on the other hand, will result in the use of larger motors in most applications. When utilised below full load, this will increase energy consumption, notably in the costlier IE4 motors, which lose the efficiency benefit. It is not cost effective to standardise a few motors and pay a premium for high-efficiency motors.
Identify critical applications and use condition monitoring: Prioritise identifying key applications and ensure that they are provided with dependable, appropriately sized geared motors and that the lines are constructed with redundancy, if necessary. Condition monitoring on those devices is critical for reducing and controlling exchange times and avoiding output loss. Many geared motors include built-in condition monitoring, or may be linked to a third-party system. Although this has become the standard, proper and consistent use of this functionality is still uncommon. Preventive, or better still, predictive condition monitoring must become the norm in critical applications.
Energy efficiency: While standardisation has its benefits, choosing the best motor for each application is still crucial. With most applications requiring the use of IE4 motors because of energy efficiency standards, it is still critical to size the geared motor accurately to prevent losing the energy efficiency benefit. To provide the required power and speed, integrated frequency inverters are preferable over larger motors. Even when energy is cheap, preparing for future energy shocks should be a top concern.
For more information contact ARC Advisory Group,
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