Energy Management and the Evolution of Intelligent Motor Control and Drives @ ARC's 2011 Industry...

Energy Management and the

Evolution of Intelligent Motor

Control and Drives

Craig Resnick

Research Director

ARC Advisory Group

[email protected]

2© ARC Advisory Group

Energy Management and the Evolution of Intelligent Motor Control and Drives

• Intelligent motor control & drives once provided a safe,

flexible & centralized means to control & protect motors

• Today, these devices have evolved to ‘smart’ energy

managers that bring advances ranging from complex

drive systems to basic control of fan or pump motors

• In high demand where uptime & equipment reliability

are critical, in applications where even a short period of

downtime can prove extremely costly & damaging

• These devices perform critical protective &

troubleshooting functions & detailed diagnostics to help

improve productivity & minimize downtime



• This session will address advances in

intelligent motor control and drives technology

• How devices leverage real-time monitoring &

integration into plant-wide networks

• Session is designed for end users, equipment

suppliers, and engineering service firms

• Those interested in Motor Control, Drives and

Energy Management Success Stories, as well as

all types of Electrical Power Systems



• Users of electrical power systems have

struggled with the issue of determining when

the useful lives of their systems are over

• Since these systems are crucial to the success

of operations from so many aspects, having a

strategy based on best practices is essential

• Modern electrical power systems are comprised

of many components that each have different

life expectancies, ranging from 5-50 years



• ARC conducted a best practices web survey for

electrical power systems that have extended

their life far beyond the original expectation

• Final results of web survey is based on 131

responses from end users, OEMs, & SIs

• The purpose of the survey is to determine the

current state of the market is & how it relates

to electrical power systems best practices


Are you an end user of Electrical Systems (ES), OEM, or Systems Integrator?

A vast majority of the comments came from end users, demonstrating that the subject of Electrical Power Systems Lifecycle Management is getting quite a bit of attention at the plant level and visibility with upper management


What is your industry?

Industry split between refining, petrochemical, chemical, and power generation, which will provide a good representation of a similar scale of businesses and operations with common issues and challenges

Other industries represented include cement & glass, upstream oil & gas, automotive, and aerospace


What region are you in?

North America dominated the respondents, indicating that this is a bigger issue for older, established plants and not yet on the priority lists of newer plants in developing countries, especially in China and Eastern Europe


Approximately, how many industrial plants/facilities does your company operate that contain electric power systems?

Interesting that the companies with the most plants had the most interest in this survey, but the issues also strongly resonated with companies with a single plant as well as the mid-size companies with 11-20 plants


When a new Electrical System/Equipment is installed in a facility, what to you expect the operable lifecycle of the system and equipment/components to be?

Transformers had by far the longest lifecycle expectation (>40 years), followed by Switchgear and Motor Control Centers. Uninterruptable Power Systems and Variable Speed Drives had the shortest lifecycle expectations (<15 years)


Approximately, what is the average age of installed Electrical Systems in your Company?

65 percent of the respondent's installed systems were between the ages on 11 and 30 years old, demonstrating that this is the time period where lifecycle management is most prevalent on the plant’s priority lists


Do you consider the supplier's published obsolescence date, the date which repair of components & technical support is no longer offered by the supplier, to be the date an electrical system or equipment is considered obsolete?

A mixed opinion regarding published obsolescence dates, with some companies feeling that if the secondary market and third parties can support the product, as well as their own inventory of parts and components, then the product is not considered obsolete


Have you utilized electrical equipment or systems beyond the supplier's stated obsolescence date? If yes, how long?

Virtually all respondents use their electrical equipment beyond the stated obsolescence date, with the majority exceeding that date by between 1-5, 5-10, and over 10 years, with the feeling that the obsolescence date is supplier -biased towards shortening product lifecycle


Do you use a standard lifecycle criteria when accepting new Electrical Equipment?

A surprising number of companies had no standard lifecycle criteria when accepting new equipment, and many others just relied on the minimum MTBF/MTTR information provided by the suppliers as the standard lifecycle criteria


Indicate the practices you use for justification for upgrade projects for your Electrical Equipment/Systems

Practices for upgrade justification varied somewhat evenly between Lost Production, Failure Costs, and Failure Frequency, with Improved Performance and Obsolescence slightly behind. However, Amortized Costs were virtually not a significant end of life factor at all


Do you have an Electrical System Lifecycle Management Policy?

Somewhat surprising how many of the respondent’s companies had no official electrical system lifecycle management policy, relying on the individual opinions of plant personnel for decision making criteria


Which of the following is most likely to trigger upgrade planning for your Electrical Equipment/Systems?

The most common factor to trigger upgrade planning is lost production, because it gets the most attention of the plant personnel and visibility of management, making it easier to financially justify getting capital funds approved


Do you conduct System/Equipment condition assessment before the upgrade?

Conducting a Systems/Equipment condition assessment before an upgrade is an essential step, especially to take advantage of the scheduled downtime by upgrading all that needs to be done to best prevent potential future unscheduled downtime incidents


Considering that a typical Electrical System is made up of multiple layers or subsystems with different life expectancies, would you or have you planned on wholesale migration to a new Electrical System or would you do in phases

Strong response that any Electrical Systems migration would be performed in phases, in a scalable fashion, designed to minimize any lost production time, regardless of the number of layers, subsystems, or different equipment life cycles of the existing systems


Survey Conclusions

• The sizeable and rapidly aging installed base must be

upgraded, but management will only approve projects

that have specific beneficial econometrics

• For justification & approval to upgrade electrical power

systems, with scarce CAPEX funds, emphasize the costs

of lost production, the cost of failure, energy savings ROI

• Getting justification based simply on upgrading to the

latest version is not a successful strategy, or even trying

to use argument regarding equipment obsolescence

• Leverage the success stories from Woodard and Curran

& MGM Resorts International to help you with the

justification needed to upgrade MCCs and Drives

Thank YouFor more information, contact the author at

[email protected] or visit our web pages atwww.arcweb.com

Energy Management and the Evolution of Intelligent Motor Control and Drives @ ARC's 2011 Industry...

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Transcript of Energy Management and the Evolution of Intelligent Motor Control and Drives @ ARC's 2011 Industry...