Why in-field testing an electric motor with a multimeter might not be such a good idea. We had a call-out to a customer over the bank holiday weekend where they were having trouble with an inverter tripping each time it tried to drive a motor. The information we had from the site engineers was that the motor tested ok and …
Holes in electric motor windings?
These holes are meant to be here though.This feature in an electric motor winding is unusual but not uncommon. They are there to serve a purpose. This type of motor is used in electric vehicle propulsion. It is the guts of a BAE Systems Hybridrive TB08 electric traction motor. All electric motors need to be cooled and most standard motors …
Meerkat condition monitoring system is five years old.
Our Meerkat condition monitoring system is five years old! (Feb 2022) It all began in early 2017 with a customer who had a critical piece of equipment in a location that was not too easily accessible. It was their main pump on a floating pontoon at a quarry. If the pump fails, the feed to the processing plant stops. They …
A lot of work goes into an armature rewind
“I never knew how much work was involved!” That was a comment made by a visitor to our workshops earlier this week when we stopped by this DC electric motor armature being rewound. Many people make the assumption that the rewind is done by machines. Whilst this is usually true when it’s made at the manufacturer’s factory, when it comes …
Don’t ditch that faulty PCB!
Estimates suggest that globally, around 60 million tonnes of waste electronic equipment are thrown away every year. As we fight the effects of global warming, growing pressure from consumers and environmental groups means this level of disposal is unacceptable. With this in mind, Matt Fletcher, Managing Director at Fletcher Moorland, dispels some myths surrounding the practice of repairing printed circuit …
“White gloves in a repair workshop. I bet they don’t stay white for long!”
Three times this was picked up on recently and all from visitors to our workshops. I have no idea what people expect when they visit a workshop, I should say that these people were buyers and not engineers. Maybe engineering still holds onto it’s wrongly-perceived image of ‘being dirty’ but engineering isn’t always about dirty shitty environments. Ok, sometimes we …
“Should I repair my electric motor or should I replace it?”.
This question is asked around the world every day. And the answer? Well, the answer you will get depends on who you ask. And, If you’re the one responsible for getting your plant back up and running again, the answer might not be in your best interests either. Just consider this for a moment. You ask two people that same …
These electric motors help reduce vehicle emissions.
It’s more by accident rather than by design that my recent posts have featured technology and processes that are environmentally friendly. This one, as it so happens, is the same. We’re all I expect very used to traditional electric motors in my posts, but here’s one that is a little different. If you’ve not seen one of these before, it …
It’s not just DC motors that need regular brush inspection and maintenance.
There is a type of AC motor in industry that you may have hidden away in your process plant that has brushes in too. These are known as slip-ring motors. They are often referred to as wound-rotor motors too. That description probably explains more of the construction of the motor then slip-ring does actually. Instead of having cast rotor …
A pile of scrap PCBs or an opportunity to refurbish and reuse?
What do you see…a pile of scrap PCBs, or an opportunity to refurbish and reuse? If you see an opportunity to refurbish and reuse, great, you need not read any further. If you see these as scrap PCBs destined for landfill, then this is an opportunity for education. PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) are in all electronic equipment the World …