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.

No Higher Priority than Safety

This Decatur Industrial customer had several 800HP motors that required air filter changes at least once a month and sometimes once a week. Changing that filter required a ladder or rollaround staircase, which added time and safety concerns

With increased focus on safety in the workplace, the customer wanted to be able to change the filter from the ground. D.I.E. was engaged to engineer a solution so the motor performance would not be affected.

Our team modified the hood ductwork utilizing engineering data to maintain the same airflow while lowering the filters to allow safer and faster changes.

Contact Decatur Industrial today to see what modifications we can make to improve safety in your facility.

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Many customers use Decatur Industrial Electric for in-plant preventative maintenance (PM). It is essential to perform internal PM’s on DC, synchronous, and large electric motors as a part of managing facility assets because they have a huge impact on productivity and profit.

During a recent PM job at a customer site, our field service technician discovered brush shunt abrasion on a 750HP DC motor due to the brush shunt leads being too short and rubbing against the springs. Based on this finding, we proactively made a suggestion to add length to the brush shunts. They would go from a 4” shunt length to a 6”.

This simple fix cost the customer 94 cents more per brush. There are 6 rows of brushes at 4 per row, so 24 brushes cost $22.56, versus potentially:

• At minimum reconditioning the motor would have cost $23,500
• Or possibly leading to a rewinding the armature/recondition the fields at fields $48,700

Here is an example of the proper location of the shunt termination in relationship to the brush in the holder. This prevents the shunts from abrading on the brush spring coil edges.

Electric motors are often kept in a place or used in an application that makes them susceptible to contamination from the environment it is operating in and because of that, motor failures are accepted. However, as this customer discovered, sometimes it can be a different reason altogether. 

A Decatur Industrial Electric customer was experiencing frequent and rapid failure of their DC electric motors. The DC motors were used in a steel mill and were suffering up to four failures a month at a $6,000- $12,000 cost per failure – not including downtime and emergency maintenance costs.

Jeff Meyer, Director of Industrial Solutions, along with our team of technicians performed root cause failure analysis on several failed motors. Then, our team went to the steel mill to evaluate the motors and application in operation. During his evaluation, we discovered the customer was supplying the incorrect brushes for the load and application.  By having the wrong brushes installed, it was contributing to the contamination of the motor. After the correct brushes were installed, the failures stopped.  The next step?  D.I.E. technicians will be inspecting and performing routine DC motor maintenance at the plant during normal shutdowns to extend the motor lifecycle.

Are you experiencing repeated equipment failures in your facility?  Let Decatur Industrial partner with you to provide longer motor life.

Decatur Industrial Electric Saves Steel Customer through our Start-Up Process

One of the most effective strategies for avoiding unplanned interruptions is correct installation at the beginning of the equipment’s life. If installation and commissioning is carried out carefully using the correct procedures, it is an investment in the machine´s serviceability and reliability for its entire service life.

In this situation, a customer was looking to install vertical pump motors but they were having issues with the process.  Decatur Industrial was engaged and proposed putting together an “install kit” for each of their groups of vertical pump applications. After reviewing the equipment, our experts came up with the kit components.

Each kit has the following to discreetly address the mechanics needs for installation. 

(1) HEAD SHAFT

(1) HEAD SHAFT NUT

(1) LINE SHAFT COUPLING

(1) GIB KEY

(1) V-RING

We added the V-Ring as a failsafe, as it is non-standard and new for the application. It will sit immediately below the steady-bushing once it has been locked in place.  This prevents water from being forced between the shaft and the steady bushing bore.

By engaging Decatur Industrial Electric these kits allowed for proper installation and commissioning; and most likely a long life for these vertical pump motors.

Next steps: Vibration analysis, oil sampling, and electrical testing to monitor the motors health.