Case Studies of High Efficiency Electric Motor Applicability

Much has been written about the advantages and disadvantages of high efficiency electric motors. For a given motor application it is possible to find literature that enables a plant engineer to make an informed choice between a standard efficiency and a high efficiency motor; however, few plant engineers have the time to perform a detailed analysis for each motor in their facility. A technique is needed to reduce the analysis to manageable proportions. This paper looks at efforts to identify high efficiency electric motor applications at two manufacturing facilities. It describes a technique that was used to assemble available data in a form that helped prioritize motors in terms of suitability for retrofit with high efficiency models. The technique addresses the problems of limited time and missing data, and suggests ways for quickly filling in data gaps. The motors in the studies spanned a range of 7.5 to 250 hp. The prioritization was performed primarily on the basis of simple payback. The study results are of potential interest to persons interested in the overall applicability of high efficiency motors in manufacturing