Abstract
Electrical motors use a significant amount of electricity. Increasing the motor efficiency has an impact on the reduction of energy consumption. There have been efforts to increase motor efficiency over the past decade that have led to the development of premium efficiency motors. The motor efficiency decreases under conditions of low load factor. It is important to match the motor power with that required for the application that it serves, as this will increase operational efficiency. Accurate load determination methods, such as input power measurement, are time-consuming and have safety hazards that need to be mitigated. The development of a method that aids the sizing of electric motors that is simple to use, economical, safe, and accurate, is important. This article reports on data collected during fi fteen energy assessments conducted at a variety of manufacturing facilities using the motor load monitoring method as well as the stroboscope method. An analysis of the data was conducted to determine the relationship that exists between the motor load factors determined by the slip method and the input power measurement method so that the prediction of accurate load factors can be made based on the results obtained by the slip method. The model is built and validated based on statistical principles.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 37-64 |
| Number of pages | 28 |
| Journal | Energy Engineering: Journal of the Association of Energy Engineering |
| Volume | 103 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2006 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Energy assessments were conducted for manufacturing facilities that had SIC between 20 and 39, mainly through the Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) funded by the Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) within the office of EERE at the US DOE. Some of the energy assessments were conducted through projects funded by the West Virginia Development Office (WVDO). These were single-day assessments led by the IAC director or the assistant director with the participation of graduate and undergraduate students. It was during these assessments that the data required for this research were collected. The data were used to develop energy saving assessment recommendations for the manufacturing facilities.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | |
| Industrial Assessment Center | |
| West Virginia Development Office |
