Just Dig Deeper

John H. Brown
South Carolina Electric & Gas
VC Summer Station
May 2006
Reactor Building Cooling Unit Fan
MFN0096A
Update on Previous Presentations
Or:
Another one bites the dust!
Wobbie & the train
Motor Information
This is a 250HP Reliance, 460 VAC, 1800 RPM,
E5010Z frame, totally enclosed air over
induction motor with ball bearings driving a
vane axial fan.
Brief History of MFN0096A
Motor failed between RF6 and RF7 (1992)

Plan developed to repair and rewind MFN0096A (form

wound) during RF7 (1993)

Motor had extensive damage and repairs could not be

completed in RF7

Random wound motor installed in plant until RF8 when

repaired motor installed
 History continued.

Motor experienced starting problems when hot

Several issues addressed concerning the hot start

issue
Starting problems persisted, last work on motor
during RF12
History continued.
There was no apparent damage or failure in the
motor that could be corrected by a repair and
rewind.
This led to the initial decision to procure a new
motor

A replacement motor through the fan vendor is

approximately $200,000 and 32-34 weeks
History continued.
Review of PdMA data indicated that there
was a rotor problem that seemed to be
exacerbated by heat
We had bearing fail in a second identical
motor during RF14
Indications on the second motor suggest
possible rotor bar problems
History continued.
Additional testing refined the failure
mechanism and determined the probable
root cause (Eddy Current Brake).
The potential for common failure for the 4
motors has led to the planned
replacement of all 4 motors.
We procured replacement motors from an
alternate vendor to replace these motors
Data that Lead to Motor Replacement

PdMA data showed a motor that

Low Res showed early indications of rotor
problems
In Rush Startup showed
Curve anomalies indicating rotor problems
Increasing start times
Running Current increased with no Load
change
RBCU Fan Motor Hot start Problem

1 3

The peaks indicated left of 300

Hz (Red circles) increased in
height from May 2003 (1), to
2 November 2003 (2), to July
2004 (3) indicate that there are
rotor problems that are
progressing
RBCU Fan Motor Hot start Problem

Starting times from August

2003 to July 2004 increased
Start Time 5.2%
6.73 sec Both start up current
curves show characteristics
of rotor problems at initial
start ( Red arrows).
Running Current
Start Time increased from 306 A to
7.08 sec 316 A with no load change
The Autopsy
We replaced 2 of the motors in 2005
We took the first suspect motor apart
Lets see what we found
The Autopsy
Growler with magnetic particles did not
show any anomalies
The Autopsy
Early Infrared Image, no indications
The Autopsy
Notice the indications
The Autopsy
Hot Spots and connection ring clearly
evident
The Autopsy
The rotor shaft has been removed and
digital radiography is planned to further
verify the anomalies.
The rotor will then be dissected to look
for physical evidence
Maybe the subject for next years
presentation???
The New Motors
RIC for Replacement Motor
Summary
Problems with these motors were
persistent from the early days of the plant
The failure in 1992 proved to be an early
indicator of a common problem
The easy fix of replacing the motor
with a new motor of the same design
would eventually had a similar problem
Summary
Looking deeper into the problem yielded
additional root cause issues
Replacement motors were purchased with an
effort to eliminate the failure mechanisms
present in the original motors
The PdMA tester and other predictive tools
allowed the case to be made to procure the
replacement motors and ultimately resolve the
issue
Summary
By resolving these issues at their core, we
can just keep humming along
Questions ???