Test and Verify Efficiency of Electrical Motor as per Australian Guidelines

Industrial electric motors are employed throughout the global economy to drive a variety of applications.

According to the International Energy Agency-IEA, motor can account for up to 70% of the total energy consumption in an industrial, 35 % of commercial & service sectors, and consumes an average of 45 % of all generated electricity worldwide.

These facts show that electric motors are an essential part for many industrial processes, the cost of downtime associated with motor failure can be thousands of dollars per hour.

They are the key source of environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. And they are responsible for a large share of the rapidly growing electricity demand in developing economies.

Improving the energy efficiency of industrial motors by roughly 20 % to 30 % has global economic potential, with payback times typically less than three years.

Out of total global CO 2 emissions of 26 billion tons, electric motors account for around 15 % or 4.3 billion tons of carbon-CO 2 emission every year.

Energy efficiency is one of the most cost-effective and low-risk methods to lower the increasing energy demand and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Not all the power absorbed by the electric motors convert into mechanical energy, a portion of energy wasted as losses in the stator, rotor, magnetic core, and as friction and windage losses. These losses are the reason for reduction in motor efficiency.

If energy consumption and industrial use of electric motors are taken into account, the necessity and the importance of efficiency measurement and minimum energy performance standards will be clearly understood.

The accuracy of the efficiency and motor loss determination depends on the test method used. There is no single standard testing method used in industries globally.

Although it is a simple concept, measuring and verifying the motor energy efficiency with the different standards can be challenging.

The following test methods are commonly referred to in industrial applications:

IEEE 112-2004 is a standard test method for polyphase motors and generators

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Publication 60034-2-1: 2014, Methods of determining losses and efficiency of rotating electrical machinery from Tests

JEC 37: Japanese Electrotechnical Committee, the standard for induction machine.

This method includes ten test methods for energy efficiency. To quote the most important:

The IEC standard test can be classified into three types:

The Japanese JEC standard 37 test methods completely neglect the additional load losses.

Minimum Energy Performance Standards-MEPS regulates the minimum energy performance level that equipment must meet or exceed before it can be offered for commercial purposes. MEPS is mandatory for a range of products Australian market.

Unless you have documented proof that the motors/products were implemented the current MEPS requirements, penalties apply for non-compliant products, including product recall.