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Protect Your High Voltage Motor and Generator Using ABB LEAP
•ABB Motors and Drives US•Season 1•Episode 32
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Host Mike Murphy is once again joined by Vijay Anand, Product Manager for ABB Digital. ABB offers a service called LEAP which is short for Life Expectancy Analysis Program. This in-depth analysis of a motor’s winding provides the expected lifetime which allows for an improvised maintenance plan. Join us as Vijay Anand discusses a service offering tailored towards high voltage motors and generators.
Welcome everyone to another ABB Solutions Podcast, where we talk about issues faced in the industry. I'm Mike Murphy, coming to you from Greenville, South Carolina. I'm excited to bring you another topic from our Services Group. With me today is Vijay Anand, Product Manager for ABB Digital. Vijay is here to talk to me about a service offering tailored towards high voltage motors and generators. Stator winding insulation is the most uptime critical component on large equipment. ABB offers a service called LEAP, which is short for Life Expectancy Analysis Program. This in-depth analysis of a motor's winding provides expected lifetime, which allows for an improvised maintenance plan. So, Vijay first, hey, thanks again for joining with us and talking to us about LEAP. Can you first talk about the types of motors where this service would benefit most?
Vijay Anand:
Well, Mike, first of all, thank you so much for the great introduction. Very good morning to you, and good morning to everyone. So as you rightly mentioned, ABB Ability LEAP is an advanced solution for analyzing the condition and expected lifetime of stator winding installation. ABB analysis can be performed on any AC High Voltage motor and generator. When I say high voltage, it is starting from 4100 volt and higher up.
Mike Murphy:
Okay, let's talk about some of the motor stress factors. I even heard an acronym called "TEAM" can you go over this and expand on these stress factors?
Vijay Anand:
Sure. As you all know, when a motor or a generator is newly installed and commissioned, that is when a customer would see a maximum value from it. Once it's put into operation, then this machine is subjected to different types of stresses, which is called as the TEAM stresses. So, these stands for thermal, electrical, ambient and mechanical stresses. So, these stresses would cause periodic degradation in the strength of the materials involved, causing a drop in the performance of various components in the stator winding insulation, which leads to a failure at some point. When we talk about temperature, we know that any motor which is running 10 degrees more than the rated temperature, it could definitely halve the life of the, of the remaining life of the installation. Ambient condition could be because of the environmental issues. Electrical energy could be because of the old age associated with the machine. The electrical energy which impacts the insulation is proportional to the square of the voltage. So, higher the voltage more is the electrical energy and mechanical forces are related to the rotational speed of the shaft. Higher the speed more would be the centrifugal forces, which will cause more mechanical stresses on the windings.
Mike Murphy:
Okay, earlier you mentioned above 4100 volts, so I'm assuming these are some pretty big units. So Vijay, can you go over some normal maintenance activities that one would perform on these motors?
Vijay Anand:
Sure, sure. That's a great question. And in fact, it ties very well with what we were talking about the TEAM stresses. So, maintenance could start anywhere from a simple cleaning to some major activities. Typically OEMs would recommend maintenance action to be done on a time based approach. For the ABB machines, we have level one to level four type of maintenance, which is recommended to be done at specific point of time. The basic purpose of doing this maintenance is to halve set the drop in the strength of the materials that we see due to the stress factors that is acting on the system. So by carrying out this maintenance at regular intervals, we could normalize the strength and ensuring that the customer value is maintained high and it also ensures that the machine does not fail in an unexpected manner causing further losses in production to the end user.
Mike Murphy:
Okay, can you talk to me about how LEAP can identify problems in the windings?
Vijay Anand:
Sure, so, first, let's understand what is the methodology that we use for carrying out a LEAP-type of an approach. There is a two-way method - one is to carry out a set of measurements on the machine. So, this these measurements could be done at site or even at a workshop. So, we carry out our own machines and we then collect the data from the stator winding installation to explore the different properties of the installation. On the second hand, we also collect the past operational history of the machine, which is required for generating the stress factors that could be impacting that particular machine. So using these two, the data is used to analyze and identify what was the degradation rate in the particular insullation. And then we calculate the stress that is acting on the system. And then we try to identify all the different types of problems that could come or probably is showing up in the insullation. Some of the deliverables could be that you know, the system can help to identify if there is any contamination on the surface of the stator winding insulation. What is the aging of the system? What is the aging of the resin? Or if there is any delamination that is happening over there. If there is any stress creating system in the system then and all the data tries to assess the condition of the stress failing system and also of a corona protection tape. It also identifies any PD activity that is present in the stator winding. So, looking into all this, it then provides a recommendation for maintenance actions or any other actions like you know, replacing the machine or rewinding the machine etc. It also then provides recommendation for the next inspection, based on the operation information provided. Last but not the least, it provides the remaining lifetime based on the information provided. And that helps to take any long term decisions that may have to be decided upon.
Mike Murphy:
Okay, great. That's really impressive - ABB has the technology to do that. Okay, Vijay, what are some other benefits from using this service?
Vijay Anand:
Right. There are definitely a long list of benefits I could talk about, but let me try to summarize into probably the three main aspects starting with - it provides clear maintenance recommendation to reduce the insulation system stress. So this will help extend lifetime and assure long term operation of the machine. Number two, it provides a data-based repair or an upgrade decision or choices based on the insight into the stator winding insulation condition. The third important point would be the expected remaining lifetime calculation of the insulation system. So this will help optimize the mitigation strategy and help to control the overall cost of ownership.
Mike Murphy:
Okay, fantastic. Vijay, I think that's a great place to stop and hey thanks again for speaking with us today on the LEAP service. Remember, listeners if you'd like more information on extending the life of your large motor or generator, as well as any of ABB service offerings, contact your local ABB sales representative. I hope you keep tuning in to the ABB Solutions Podcast in your favorite browser. Thanks and have a great rest of your day.
