Here You Go.

Why the hype over IoT-backed predictive maintenance technologies? Is it just a passing technology trend, or does it really have the power to significantly impact the reliability of your equipment and the bottom line for your company?

Digital Transformation and Internet of Things (IoT)

Companies have invested trillions in digital transformations over the past five years and will invest even more in the future. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), $1.18 trillion in investments were made in technologies and services to enable digital transformations in 2019. In addition, experts predict companies will invest $6 trillion in digital transformation between 2018 and 2022.

So, you have an electric motor that has a repair issue. You have two choices, to fix it in the field or pull it and send it to an electric motor repair shop.

What decision makes the most sense?

Well, there are a series of factors that you should consider to help guide your decision. Sometimes field service is a great option and other times the unit should be pulled and sent to a shop.

Here are some factors to consider:

Maybe you’ve got a centrifugal pump that sounds like it’s full of rocks, marbles, or gravel. That is a sign of cavitation -- which can total your pump if you don’t track down the cause.

But what is cavitation anyway?

What is Cavitation?

The official definition of cavitation is what occurs within a pump when the static pressure of the liquid drops below the vapor pressure of the liquid and bubbles (i.e., vapor-filled cavities) form. A more general definition would be the formation of bubbles within a pump, regardless of how they got there.

When these bubbles are exposed to high pressure, they begin to collapse, and that’s where problems start. As these bubbles collapse, they can generate tiny but powerful, high-energy shock waves that can damage components within the pump. The most damage occurs when the bubbles implode close to a surface -- and in pumps that would be around the impeller.

Repairing is still a viable option when your motor fails -- when the repair is done correctly. Find out when it makes sense to have your electric motor repaired and what you need to consider when choosing the vendor.

When to Repair Your Electric Motors

The decision to repair or replace can be a tricky one, so let’s start with some key considerations when making that choice. 

What is the size of the motor? Smaller motors are usually less expensive and it’s easier to find replacements for them with a short lead time. On the other hand, smaller motors are easier and less expensive to pull for repairs. Larger motors, on the other hand, represent a significant capital investment, often have a long lead time, and are usually repaired if at all possible.

If you sit back and think about the relationship that you have with the company that you are doing your electric motor repair/replacement business with, are they really serving you or serving themselves? Do you have a vendor who actually cares about your uptime and reliability of the products that they repair and sell? When meeting new prospective clients, we often hear that our current vendor is “always ready to serve us” or “I can call them 24/7 and they jump through hoops”, all things that a partner can do. It is very seldom that we hear from prospective clients that their last vendor solved an issue that they have had for years or hear them rave about how much money that vendor saved them or increased their uptime and production.

You know that maintenance and repair costs, downtime, and productivity all have a major impact on the bottom line...and you’re always on the lookout for ways to have a positive impact on the bottom line. The good news is the smart use of predictive technologies can do just that!

What are Predictive Technologies? 

At my core, I am an electric motor guy, more specifically an electric motor repair guy – or at least that’s what I have always thought. I am a fourth-generation family member in the electric motor repair industry. I am the President of a large primarily electric motor company with various divisions including electric motor repair, product sales, equipment management, and predictive maintenance.

So its natural for me to be a motor guy, right?

No, not really! I did start as a "motor guy" but have transitioned into more of a reliability focus, thanks to the approach that HECO has always taken to repair; which is unique and started well before my time. Don't get me wrong - the motor is still a vast majority of what our expertise is on and in no way am I nor HECO pulling away from that. However, this approach that HECO takes is a simple understanding that looking at an electric motor by itself is like looking at only the engine of your vehicle. That’s great the engine purrs perfectly but if your car doesn’t have any wheels, you’re not going to be able to travel very far! You must look beyond just the motor at the entire application and system to provide the RIGHT solution for clients.

It’s the middle of the night and a key motor in your facility broke down. Every hour of delay is costing thousands of dollars. You pull a drop-in spare from on-site storage and it doesn’t work. It was ice cold when you pulled it out, the bearings are making odd noises, and it looks like a forklift dented its enclosure. How can you keep that from happening to you?

Two words: off-site storage.

Goals of Offsite Storage

Of the many things that our company has to be proud of and is often talked about, is our EASA Accreditation. The accreditation is often mentioned to our customers when speaking on some of the quality standards that we follow. Now, there have been times when we need to first explain that EASA is an international trade organization encompassing almost 1,900 electromechanical sales and service companies throughout the world. After an explanation of who EASA is and their role we can then talk about the EASA Accreditation program.

This blog post completes an 8-part series on vibration analysis written by Dr. Sara McCaslin & Nolan Crowley, Business Development Manager at HECO.

We hope you have enjoyed your journey.

Dr. Sara McCaslin: Sara has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. Sara has also taught materials science, manufacturing, and mechanical system design at the University of Texas at Tyler.

Nolan Crowley: Nolan has BS from Miami University along with extensive field experience with powertrains, electric motors, & vibration issues since 2007.

• Week 1: Vibration Analysis Training: Who’s Doing Your Analysis?
• Week 2: Vibration Analysis Equipment: Sensors and Hardware
• Week 3: Balancing Rotating Equipment: Static vs Dynamic
• Week 4: The Importance of Route-Based Data Acquisition
• Week 5: The Basics of Modal Analysis for Electric Motors and Powertrains
• Week 6: How to Setup Remote Monitoring Vibration Monitoring
• Week 7: The Place of Motion Amplification in Modern Vibration Analysis
• Week 8: Bidding/Specifying Your Vibration Analysis Program

Vibration analysis is a critical part of PdM (Predictive Maintenance) and condition-based maintenance when rotating machinery is involved. We’ve talked at length about various aspects of vibration analysis, but what you may not realize is that having a written/documented vibration analysis specification can offer a host of benefits.