Decatur Industrial Works on Environmentally Friendly Retrofit & Upgrade

In an effort to go green, our customer’s facility is shutting down coal to steam operations. They have an MR compressor application that is driven by a steam turbine.  The process engineering team requested our assistance with motor application expertise and guidance in retrofitting to an electric motor driven solution for the existing compressor.

D.I.E collaborated with the customer’s engineering team on a motor and mounting adapter base solution to the existing compressor frame.   This solution needed to reliably function in a somewhat challenging environment.  We strategized in a team effort arriving at an adapter base and motor design that provided the required torque within the challenging thermal and dimensional limits available.  We determined that this application would require a 1500hp motor torque requirements with a very specialized adapter base.  The adapter base and motor will be built by the Siemens Above-NEMA (ANEMA) motor plant in Norwood, OH.  (story continues below picture.)

This upgrade will maximize their process efficiencies. Steam turbines are less efficient, compared to electric drive systems.  This is especially true when heat losses from steam are considered. Steam turbines also require more planned shutdowns, and due to their significant number of moving parts, are comparatively less reliable than electric motor drive systems. These advantages combine to maximize the customer’s equipment uptime and productivity.

Decatur Industrial would love to help your facility see what productivity gains you can achieve through similar upgrades.  Thanks to their efficiency, reliability, and attractive price points, electric motor variable speed drive systems are an attractive option.

Specifying 63 motors with horsepower ratings ranging from 2HP to 250HP to achieve the optimum performance and reliability at a true state-of-the-art distillery is a major undertaking for project engineers. Some of the hardest work comes in the beginning stages – researching, identifying the appropriate design, and then working with the motor prints and drawings.

As a valued solutions partner, D.I.E. was asked to support the project engineers in specifying designs including motors for custom applications. These applications required comprehensive VFD-Duty motor designs that the OEM could not provide.

Our customer required the exact drawings be included for each motor quoted in the project.
D.I.E. came up with an organizational method to make it more efficient for the engineers to review and approve the drawings – saving them time and resources and eliminating any confusion that could majorly affect the project.  

1. Simply clicking on the drawing number within the spreadsheet takes the engineers to a sheet with the exact motor drawing image.

2. Once at the drawing image sheet, double-clicking on the image will open it in ADOBE PDF. This allows our customer’s engineers to rapidly and accurately access the motor drawings for each application on the project.

Do you have a project you need help with?
Let Decatur Industrial Electric make your job easier. Contact us today.

Decatur Industrial Electric Takes on Double Drum Dryer Project
(Scroll to bottom for images!)

A Decatur Industrial customer was looking for a vendor to rebuild a piece of equipment for their joint venture partner. The turned to us – already one of their strategic partners with the ability to meet the demands and requirements:

1. Extensive mechanical and electrical knowledge
2. 35 ton crane capacity
3. Read and interpret OEM blueprints and electrical diagrams
4. Complete machining capabilities
5. Garage bay door up to 14’ wide and 16’ tall

This customer and their joint venture partner had a new product they wanted to create and sell; and couldn’t do so without a double drum dryer.  Our team of experts took the reins and handled the project from start to finish. This project was a perfect fit for our capabilities, especially in our machine shop. 

Utilizing the OEM manuals, we began with disassembly just like our typical process. However, unlike a typical motor, this disassembly process was much more complex as the number of components was multiplied. This project saw us disassembling and assembling: bearings, rolls, end plates, packing glands, gears, cutter arms, air cylinders, air lines, adjuster arms, sprayer arms, door clamps, and more.
Our machine shop also handled:

• Machining all rotating parts to within tolerances
• Repairing bearing journals on drums
• Manufacturing teflon brushings and bronze bushings

Weighing in at over 30,000 pounds and encompassing a footprint of 11 feet by 10 feet, this repair saved the customer $400,000 versus buying a refurbished one. The customer realized a significant cost savings.

Do you have a unique piece of rotating equipment that needs repaired? Call the experts at Decatur Industrial to come take a look.

Click on image to enlarge.

(scroll to bottom for picture)

Do you have an MMP at your facility? The benefits can truly pay for the program itself as one Decatur Industrial customer discovered. Moreover, the planned maintenance of equipment will help to improve equipment life and help avoid any unplanned downtime.  A successful preventive maintenance program is dependent on the cooperation of all the parties involved.  In this case, the partnership between this metal finishing customer and Decatur Industrial Electric worked just like it should have.

While performing a preventative maintenance walk about, our technician noticed new blowers put on the reverse side of the motors. This would not be an issue if the air louvers were reversed as well. However, this was not the case.  We recommended fixing this issue during their upcoming scheduled outage. We will switch the louvered covers to the opposite end and close up the bottom louvers in place. This will redirect air flow through the motors to achieve proper cooling.

If this issue would not have been caught and the motor would have continued to run as is the customer would have experienced a premature failing due to overheating. They would be looking at a $30,000 cost for a “special” DC motor replacement or a $22,000 repair. Instead, they are looking at less than $2,000 for the work to be performed.

Pictured below is the motor as is which is causing airflow problems.

When a motor surpasses its life span, a failure can occur at any time. A Decatur Industrial customer experienced just such a failure on a critical motor running a compressor.

After bringing the motor to the D.I.E. shop, it was found to be a catastrophic failure which needed an entire rebuild. The customer was looking at a cost of close to $100,000 and a turn-around time of at least 8-10 weeks. Along with the cost of renting a compressor during this period, it would have been a large investment on an OEM motor that was now obsolete.

Decatur Industrial had a new solution. We recommended the purchase of a standard stock motor which we retrofitted with a custom transition plate to accommodate the compressor.  The total cost, including turn-key installation was around $52,000. The customer was up and running within four weeks with the latest technology and efficiency.

Do you have on obsolete or a custom motor that you need help retrofitting? Contact us today.