According to the WEG Electric Motors Corp., oversized electric pump motors are commonplace, and their use results in energy efficiency losses that could be costing industry billions of dollars in wasted energy.
“Industry figures suggest that around 80 percent of pump motors could be the incorrect size,” comments Andrew Glover, WEG Motors product manager. “The majority are over specified by as much as 10 or 15 percent by engineers wanting to be ‘on the safe side.’ As pumps typically account for around 30 percent of an industrial country’s energy usage, this represents a serious loss of energy.
“This doesn’t even take into account the extra cost of a larger motor with all the associated equipment, drives, cabling, etc.” continues Glover. “Electric motor manufacturers are forever striving to increase energy efficiency by 1 or 2 percentage points, but incorrect specification by an application engineer can mean that is wasted effort.
“Where a single percentage point increase in energy efficiency can save the equivalent of the purchase price of an electric motor over its design life, it seems ludicrous to waste energy through poor specification.”
Source: Advantage Business Media
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