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This issue we take a long, hard look at motor efficiency, and you should, too. After all, electric motors used in industrial settings are the single largest consumer of electricity in the United States. Upgrading your electric motors is not only good for the environment, but it’s
also good for your bottom line. Sure, saving electricity lessens
the burden on our country’s energy infrastructure. But it
also saves you money in the long run.
We just returned from WEFTEC
— the premier U.S. water and
wastewater management show. Our
recent discussion (Game Changer)
highlighted the negative impact of low
oil prices.
The secondhand on the Doomsday
dial ominously spins around the face,
slowly but ever so surely inching the
motor industry towards its inevitable
terminus:
Reducing losses and increasing profits by instituting a motor management plan is what this series of articles is all about. Here in Part I, we discuss how to create a motor inventory and establish repair-or-replace motor guidelines. Subsequent topics in this
three-part series will address (Part II)
motor failure policies and purchasing
specifications, and (Part III) repair
specifications and preventive and predictive maintenance, respectively.
The U.S. Space Shuttle fleet was originally intended to have a life of 100 flights for each vehicle, lasting over a 10-year period, with minimal scheduled maintenance or inspection.
The first space shuttle flight was that of the Space Shuttle Columbia
(OV-102), launched April 12, 1981. The disaster that destroyed Columbia occurred on its 28th flight, February 1, 2003, nearly 22 years after its first launch.
A thermo-mechanical model of a splash lubricated one-stage gear unit is presented. This system corresponds to a first step towards the design of a hybrid vehicle gearbox that can operate up to 40,000 rpm on its primary shaft. The numerical model is based on the thermal network method and takes into account power losses due to teeth friction, rolling-elements bearings and oil churning. Some calculations underline that oil churning causes a high amount of power loss. A simple method to reduce this source of power losses is presented, and its influence on the gear unit efficiency and its thermal capacity is computed.
Power Play patrons may recall last
month’s drop-in at the Museum of
Unworkable Devices — a virtual and
pretty damn funny (www.lhup.edu)
“celebration of fascinating devices that
don’t work.”