EMPATH Continuous Monitoring Special Applications for Energy Analysis

The EMPATH™ family of Electrical Signature and Motor Current Signature Analysis (ESA/MCSA) systems go well beyond analyzing electric motors, generators and wind turbines.  It provides prognostic and time to failure estimation (TTFE) capabilities for AC/DC electric motors, synchronous machines, servo motors, machine tools, generators – including utility scale, and transformers.  Not only will it identify…

Concepts in Reliability Keeping it Simple and Random Thoughts

As I just mentioned to a friend – I seem to be waxing philosophical this past weekend as I complete reading “Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, Biography of a Genius,” by Marc J Seifer. I would not have tripped over this and several other excellent texts had I not started returning to…

Code for TheRamReview.com Part VII Electric Motor Raw Data Machine Learning

Following is the code used to develop the script bringing the details developed in Parts I-VI together for classification and RUL/TTFE outputs in the Part VII article: (article to be posted by September 19, 2021. *Note: The code in this article is for demonstration purposes only and is not meant for real-world applications of this…

Code for TheRamReview.com Part V Electric Motor Raw Data Machine Learning

Following is the code used to create the voltage, current and power factor defect for the article which can be found here: Part V: Machine Learning (ML) With Raw Electric Motor Data | THE RAM REVIEW *Note: The code in this article is for demonstration purposes only and is not meant for real-world applications of…

TheRamReview.com Machine Learning Article Part III Addendum – the code

For trying out the method described Mathworks (https://mathworks.com) provides 30 day trials of their personal and business versions of the Matlab and Simulink systems.  The *.csv files created for this article series were developed within Matlab (Figure 2) using the code which follows. *Note: The code in this article is for demonstration purposes only and…

Evaluating Missing Wedges and Coil Movement with ESA IEEE Paper

Two significant issues in wind power asynchronous generators are magnetic wedge loss and coil movement resulting in winding faults.  Most of the time the failures occur unexpectedly or require borescope or visual inspections of the generator stators.  In this paper we will identify how both conditions can be detected during operation through Electrical Signature Analysis. …

Troubleshooting a VFD Fault Instantaneous Trip Including Bypass

A new inline ventilation motor operating on a VFD with bypass tripped on startup with the VFD and instantaneously tripped when tested across the line. Smoke was noted in the drive cabinet and MotorDoc was contacted to evaluate the electric motor and work with the VFD installer following recommendations by repair shops to remove the…

Before and After Motion Amplification Testing of Fan Application

Initial testing of an ID fan performed in 2018 with corrections made and retesting performed with EMPATH analysis, GTI Predictive vibration analysis and RDI motion amplification. While values were not extreme in the pre-test, the resulting vibration destroyed fan bearings and other poor conditions which prevented the operation of the fan system. Testing was performed…

Time to Failure Estimation with ESA Series Part 1 Electric Motor Theory

As we start into ESA theories and application, we will have to spend a little time on electric motor theory.  As we will start out with a basic system, AC motors are the simplest in terms of operation and components, we will start out with AC induction motors.  Using this base knowledge, we can later…