Archives for 2016

Motor Tip: Change from Baseline

We know phase resistance of an electric motor can change drastically with temperature. As temperature rises the resistance rises as a result of copper having a positive temperature coefficient. However, on a three phase motor even though the phase resistance values change with temperature the balance of resistance between the three phases should not change. For your medium and high voltage motors (> 4kV) the balance of resistance is often very low (<1%). In fact, it is quite common to see values of imbalance in the one-hundredths of a percent (ex. .03%). The standard MCEGold balance of resistance setpoints for a medium voltage motor is 1% (caution) and 2% (alarm) so a baseline balance of resistance of .03% would have to increase ~3000% to reach the 1% alarm setpoint. Therefore, it is important for you to consider establishing a change from baseline alarm setpoint for your balance of resistance in these situations to alert you to large changes in the circuit condition.

Food Processing Company Saves Over $100K

A Decatur Industrial customer had been using a 3^rd party large vibration company that reviewed the vibration results from a remote location. The customer did not see the value in those reports and were still experiencing reactive emergency maintenance and downtime. The plant contacted Decatur Industrial, who does all their motor repair, to perform vibration analysis condition monitoring.

After Decatur Industrial conducted a vibration analysis, we recommended they remove a 500HP ANEMA motor due to vibration in the bearings. The bearing damage was caused by electrical fluting from a VFD and poor grounding. Our technicians were on site and immediately reported our findings to the reliability engineer and the plant scheduled the replacement during a scheduled outage.

By having our expert technicians on site who understood how the customer’s equipment operated, we were able to isolate this issue in the vibration and pull the motor proactively.

The customer saved $50,000 by avoiding a major catastrophic motor failure and up to $130,000 in unnecessary downtime.

Decatur Industrial Electric Company Video

Thanks to Now Decatur and Limitless Decatur & Macon County for highlighting manufacturing all month long in our community.

Trent Thompson, President of Decatur Industrial Electric, provides an overview of our company’s philosophy and the services we provide to our customers. 65 years and going strong!

Manufacturing Day Celebrations

Decatur Industrial was honored to be part of Decatur and Macon County’s celebration of National Manufacturing Day. Our production supervisor, Tom, shared his career pathway with students interested in manufacturing and the industrial trades.

Over 80 students took part in today’s celebration in Decatur and Macon County. Around 40 students toured our facility in the afternoon to better understand what a career in our industry looks like.

Laser Alignment Training

On Wednesday, October 12, Decatur Industrial hosted a precision laser alignment training with specialist Jim Griffin of J L Griffin, LLC. J L Griffin LLC. offers training on predictive maintenance services and products and we are pleased to be able to bring in expert training for our customers.

This training was covering topics such as: Fundamental Concepts, Pre-AlignmentChecks, Base-Bound/BoltBound, ThermalGrowth, and More.

Decatur Industrial holds a variety of training events throughout the year. Next up is AC Motor 101 Class on Tuesday, November 15th