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Archives for 2018

Decatur Industrial Partners with Workforce Investment Solutions

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – Workforce Investment Solutions helped a Decatur man land a full-time career he enjoys.

Eric Buchanan has been with Decatur Industrial Electric for about nine months. He went there through a partnership with WIS, which helped him gain the training he needed to take on the work.

“We receive a lot of applicants that need training, even in soft skills,” said DIE Marketing and Recruitment Director Kelli Runyon. “So when Eric came in, and since he worked with Workforce, he already knew how to be prepared for a job interview, how to interact with other employees and skills that are really necessary to a shop environment.”

Buchanan enjoys his position, where he washes electric motor parts in the “steam pit”.

“I’m part of a union,” Buchanan said. “I get benefits, insurance (and) a 401K plan. I really like it.”

WIS leaders say Buchanan is a prime example of how the training they offer can help someone be ready for the workforce.

“Eric was a testimonial for our program,” said Larry Peterson of WIS. “We had an advanced manufacturing training session going on, one of which was classroom training. When he wasn’t in class in the mornings in the afternoons, he worked at National Food Works in our work experience program.”

What’s causing your high motor current?

The most frequent concern about high current with a three-phase motor is high no-load current. But the broad issue of high no-load current isn’t the only three-phase motor issue to which plants should pay heed: High current with load and lower-than-expected no-load current are potential areas of concern, too. Let’s explore the sources of all of these.

High no-load current: Motor not rewound

One situation in which higher-than-expected no-load current can occur is with reconditioned motors. Although some motors with no-load currents above or below the guidelines may still be satisfactory, motors with no-load current outside of these ranges warrant further analysis.

When no-load current is high or low, consider the actual test operating voltage versus the motor’s rated voltage. If the applied voltage is not within 10% of the motor’s rated voltage, then the no-load current can be much higher or lower than expected. For example, test-operating a motor rated 200 volts on a 240-volt supply system is almost certain to result in relatively high no-load current.

A misconnection also can cause unusually high or low no-load current. For example, consider a 12-lead single voltage motor intended to be connected parallel-delta (Figure 1) for 460 volts. Because most 12-lead motors are dual-voltage, the motor could be mistakenly connected series-delta (Figure 2) for operation at 460 volts, which would result in exceptionally low no-load current. The solution is to connect the motor for parallel delta.

Click to read the full article and see the tables: https://www.plantservices.com/articles/2018/md-whats-causing-your-high-motor-current/

 

Employee Spotlight: Dan Lang

Meet Dan Lang, Quality and Engineering Manager.  Dan is responsible for quality of repair, customer specifications, QA process and procedures, technical data, training and Account Manager support.

Dan Lang

Dan has been in the motor business since 1973, working at General Electric, Westinghouse, Eastern Electric and DMS Electric. Dan came to Decatur Industrial Electric five years ago, and is a member of the company’s leadership team. 

When asked what his favorite part of the job was, Dan responded: “It’s satisfying to put a plan together and watch employees apply their knowledge to produce a professional and functional product.”

When not at work, Dan likes to camp, spend time in the woods, canoe, fish, and “tinker” around with things. 

Pumps: Tip of the Week

Have you ever heard that water and electricity don’t mix? If so, then the title “submersible pump motor” must sound like a bad idea. However, it is a very common application for electric motors  Submersible Pump Test Stationin a variety of industries. Given the fact that the motor and most of the power cables are under water or something similar to water, your approach to acceptance criteria may need to be tweaked a little from your normal acceptance criteria for electric motors designed to operate in dry environments. Manufacturer’s recommended guidelines for continued operation of submersible pumps/motors include very broad tolerances which would suggest trending as a preferred approach to evaluating insulation integrity and reliability.
 
 Unlike more standard applications of motors where access to the motor connection box is possible for troubleshooting, access to the motor connection box of a submerged pump/motor becomes difficult, if not impossible. This dramatically increases the importance of sound quality control testing of the motor and power cables separately prior installation. Submersible pumps are always subject to condensation within the pump seals and water jacket. The fluid surrounding the cables and insulation creates a vast parallel conductor which lowers the overall insulation resistance-to-ground and substantially increases the overall capacitance-to-ground. The resistance-to-ground values often do not reach the minimum values allowed by the IEEE Standards.
 
Finally, the Submersible Wastewater Pump Association (www.SWPA.org) suggests that a new motor installed in a wet well with cap and cable assembly installed can go as low as 2Mohms to ground for continued operation. As always experience and historical comparison should be guiding factors in your decision as to when low is too low.