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URGENT MOTOR OVERHAUL TO A TIGHT SCHEDULE
DURING THE RUN-UP TO CHRISTMAS 2020, a scheduled maintenance inspection by the in-house team at an industrial gas manufacturing plant in South Wales identified a worryingly low insulation resistance (IR) on one phase of a critical 11kV compressor motor.
Quartzelec was called and could attend, at very short notice on Christmas Eve, to assess the situation and endeavour to rectify the problem.
Upon inspection, heaters were placed around the motor to quickly improve the IR – this resulted in only marginal improvement. Following consultation, the decision was made that Quartzelec would remove and undertake a major overhaul on the 1188kW Parsons Peebles compressor motor, whose duty helps provide a range of critical gases to major industries and medical facilities across the UK.
"Having agreed on the plan of action with the customer, we returned early in January to remove the 16 tonne motor for a detailed inspection and overhaul in our workshop," explained Simon O'Leary, Swansea Business Unit manager for Quartzelec. "An issue with the overhead on-site crane and position of the motor saw us bring in additional specialist lifting equipment to avoid delay, enabling us to get the motor back to our workshop to commence stripping it down."
Working extended hours and weekends, the first task for the Quartzelec engineering team was to dismantle the motor before steam cleaning the stator windings. It was then placed in a temperature-controlled oven to help improve the IR. New insulated cable clamps were manufactured and replacement 11kV heat shrink fitted to all cables. The motor was then transported to Quartzelec's Rugby facility, where a full Baker Test and Partial Discharge tests were carried out to quantify and record the IR improvements achieved before it was finally transported back to the site and reinstalled.
Quartzelec was able to keep to an agreed tight schedule for the project of under a month in a bid to minimise downtime at the plant and at a fraction of the time and cost of having a new motor specified and commissioned.
