AC motors target extreme operating efficiency

A Baldor product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 15, 2006

An innovative range of IEC-frame AC motors emphasises extreme operating efficiency to help users meet carbon emission and energy conservation targets, and reduce operating overheads.

Baldor has launched an innovative range of IEC-frame AC motors that emphasises extreme operating efficiency, to help users meet carbon emission and energy conservation targets, and reduce operating overheads.

Called Metric-E+, Baldor's new range is dedicated to energy conservation, and employs unique technology to achieve outstanding energy efficiency levels of up to 96.3%.

Baldor offers Eff1 choices - in line with Europe's existing "high efficiency" standard - plus a further choice of premium efficient motors it dubs "Eff1+" that are up to 2% points more efficient.

"Rising energy costs pose a major threat to industry competitiveness".

"We now view Europe's existing motor energy efficiency standards as too conservative, helping to confuse users and keep inefficient products in use", says Andrew Stephenson of Baldor.

"Australasia and North America are showing Europe just what is possible in this area".

"We urgently need to raise the bar, and believe that Eff1 is the minimum standard for most continuous processes and heavy-duty applications".

"With this launch we have also introduced a higher efficiency level, to offer a truly optimum solution".

The new range spans 17 power ratings from 4 to 200kW (metric frame sizes from D112M to D315M), with a choice of three speed options at each rating: 950, 1450 and 2850rev/min.

In each case, users can choose from Eff1 efficiencies or Baldor's proprietary "Eff1+" premium option.

Maximum Eff1+ efficiencies at full load start at 90.1% for a 4kW motor and go up to 95.8% at 90kW (the end point for Eff1 labelling), continuing onwards to 96.3% at 200kW - the highest rated motor in Baldor's new range.

Comparative Eff1 figures for the same motors are 88.5% at 4kW and 95.1% at 90kW.

In addition to meeting and exceeding Eff1, the motors comply with Australia's minimum efficiency performance standards or MEPS: AS/NZS 1359.5-2005/2006 (which covers motors up to 185kW).

Baldor achieves the higher efficiency levels by a more focused motor design, paying particular attention to the active materials.

Significant efficiency improvements can be attributed to adding more copper to the windings, upgrading the laminations to premium-grade low-loss steel, enhanced lamination designs, precision air gaps between rotor and stator, and reducing fan and other losses in the motor.

The new motor range features cast iron frames, for durability, and will run from 50Hz, 380-420 three-phase supplies.

The motors are additionally rated for use at 60Hz/460V and comply with EPAct efficiency levels - making them suitable for use in the USA as well.

All Metric-E+ motors are wound with Baldor's exclusive ISR (inverter spike resistant) magnet wire, making them up to 100 times more resistant to transient voltage spikes, high frequencies, and short rise-time pulses commonly produced by inverters.

This results in all Metric-E+s being "inverter ready".

These motors, with improved insulation materials, can withstand peak voltages up to 1600 volts peak for extended reliability.

Every Metric-E+ motor is also balanced to Baldor's own very high standard.

This results in fewer mechanical stresses, particularly on motor bearings, extending life.

Baldor is so confident in the design and build quality of these new motors, that it is offering them with a three year warranty.

Baldor is investing in a large stockholding of Metric-E+ motors, covering all power ratings, at its European logistics centre.

For a majority of European users, it means that their IEC frame motor requirements can be supplied anywhere within 48 hours - or even same-day in some instances.

As the capital cost of a large electric motor is typically only two% of its lifetime cost, the new Metric-E+ motors will provide a major return on investment.

In addition to savings electricity costs, using the motors will make a major contribution to meeting governments' Kyoto commitments, as some two thirds of industrial electricity is typically used by electric motors, which in turn accounts for around 10% of a country's CO2 emissions.

In the UK for example, there are over 11 million motors installed with a combined capacity of around 90GW.

By increasing the average efficiency of the country's motor base by just 1%, the result is an annual energy saving of almost 1.5TWh and a reduction of over 600,000 tonnes in CO2 emissions.

Find out more about this article. Request a brochure, download technical specifications and request samples here.
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