RCM-Based Motor Management

Howard W. Penrose, Ph.D.

T-Solutions, Inc.
135 Hanbury Rd, C-I
Chesapeake, VA 23322
Abstract- The utilization of Reliability-Centered Maintenance result has been increased energy costs and downtime resulting
(RCM) techniques on electric motors allows for the proper from equipment not operating to full potential and failing
selection of technologies for effective selection of Condition-Based unexpectedly. The problem results in billions of dollars of
Monitoring (CBM) processes and technologies. The RCM additional energy consumption and lost revenue."[2]
approach assists the manufacturer or supplier in maintenance
recommendations and the reliability specialist in selecting the There are specific issues with defining the philosophy of
optimum approach in performing the right maintenance on the
right equipment at the right time for the right reasons. This motor management. The most important is that many view
paper is an introduction to the selection of electrical motor motor management as energy management; others view it as
diagnostic technologies for rotating machinery that can be motor testing, storage, greasing or some other function. These
applied in any environment. definitions are wrong and will destroy a program before it is
started because they are functions and not a long-term
I. INTRODUCTION philosophy. A true motor management program and
philosophy will have both immediate impact and long-term
As noted in the Motor Diagnostics and Motor Health Study[1], results.
68% of those surveyed felt that they had a motor management
program in place. Of these, 72% of the programs failed and Therefore, a more accurate definition of motor management is
less than half of the remaining programs were reported as required: Motor system maintenance and management is the
effective. Of the effective programs, 66% of the reported philosophy of continuous improvement of all aspects of the
recommendations for action were ignored. Only 7% of the motor system from incoming power to the driven load. It
total programs were found to meet any standard of motor involves all components of energy, maintenance and reliability
management and were effective. from system cradle to grave.

When the survey data was reviewed further, in particular in This provides the outline for any true motor management
the area of the ignored recommendations, some key issues program which is intended to extend the useful life of the
became readily apparent: motor system combined with continuous improvement of the
system. In addition, the focus is back on a systems approach
1.In a few cases, recommendations were not properly such that the system includes: Incoming power and
communicated; distribution; Controls; Motor; Coupling; Load and Process.
2. Frequency of data collected on critical equipment was not
effective for planned corrective maintenance; and, Why is this important to the discussion of RCM-Based Motor
3. Most cases identified that the applied CBM technology Analysis? Quite simply, understanding the systems in the
did not identify, or correctly identify, critical equipment facility and the potential failures associated with the system
failure. and components, in that particular application, will assist in
the proper selection of maintenance and condition monitoring
Of the 7% of effective programs, over 91% identified procedures and techniques. For instance, if the greatest
immediate return on investment, usually measured in terms of opportunities for maintaining electric motor system health
days, through their program(s). These programs were found to come from power quality, how will the implementation of a
be fairly consistent in their outline and implementation. vibration or motor circuit analysis program be the most
Failed programs were found to be fairly constant in their effective approach? Wouldn't the selection of a power quality
attempts. condition-based monitoring system be more effective?
II. DEFINING MOTOR MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS The philosophy of motor management requires that certain
rules and processes are applied to ensure that the program is a
"Modem management practices often do not take into account success. A few points in this process include:
the importance of motor systems maintenance and
management requirements. Through efforts in cost control, 1. Identifying the mission of the company;
many industrial and commercial firms will reduce 2. Perform an RCM-Based analysis of the facility and
maintenance staffs, take least cost approaches to corrective systems in order to determine the systems that will be
actions, and sacrifice preventive maintenance programs. The

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 included in the program and the maintenance practices to conditions and experience with similar equipment. To assure
be followed; adequate maintenance, and warranty consideration, it is
3. Selection of CBM tools and maintenance practices to essential that complete records be kept for each motor;
meet the analysis; including description and rating, maintenance schedule and
4. Selection of vendor-partners including discussion of spare repairs required or carried out.
parts storage;
5. Selection of personnel to operate the program; "This checklist does not represent an exhaustive survey of
6. Set and communicate the goals and metrics for the maintenance steps necessary to ensure safe operation of this
program; equipment. Particular applications may require further
7. Periodically review and modify the program as required. procedures." [3]
The hub of this process is the RCM-Based analysis of the When considering that a reasonably small-sized industrial
system. This process sets the rules, logic and evidence for the facility may have hundreds of these machines, with the
maintenance practices on a particular system. For the average facility maintaining 1,000's of electric motors,
remainder of this paper, we will focus on the electric motor performing the above planned maintenance on all of the
only in order to focus on the need for an RCM-Based machines becomes overwhelming. This becomes even more
approach. of an issue when the program is expanded to the complete
system and the maintenance requirements outlined by the
III. MANUFACTURER AND SUPPLIER MAINTENANCE manufacturer of each component of that system.
The equipment supplied user manual, or maintenance manual, It has also been identified that many of the manufacturer
provides a guideline for maintaining the health of motor required intrusive maintenance practices will actually reduce
system components. For example, one installation, operation the reliability of the equipment being maintained. In addition,
and maintenance guide[3] provides information on the recommended frequency of maintenance is often far too
installation, operation and maintenance. Within the frequent due to the broad number of applications for an
maintenance portion of the guide: electric motor, and the worst-case is often assumed.[4]
However, the process can be used by manufacturers and
* Preventive maintenance suppliers to provide more effective maintenance
* Inspection recommendations.
* Corrective maintenance
* Rotor and Stator cleaning IV. THE RCM-BASED APPROACH
* Insulation resistance
* Bearing lubrication RCM is "a logical discipline for developing a scheduled
maintenance program that will realize the inherent reliability
The requirements also include frequencies. levels of complex equipment at minimum cost."[41 The point
is to identify the correct maintenance on the right equipment at
The general maintenance checklist for this particular motor is the right time for the right reasons. This requires that the
as follows[3]: RCM analysis is based upon the application and its functions
and not the equipment, itself. Using the manufacturer's
1. Verify motor is clean and verify that stator and rotor recommendations will usually result in the application of
ventilation passages are unobstructed; excessive maintenance, one of the key issues that RCM was
2. Check for excessive loading or service factor; created to avoid.
3. Verify winding temperature rise not in excess of rated
value; The RCM philosophy involves developing tasks that are based
4. Verify insulation resistance is above recommended on condition which allows us to capture the maximum useful
minimum; life of a component, or system, regardless of its initial
5. Verify voltage and frequency variation; condition or stresses. Just as with maintenance, however,
6. Check air gap; performance of excessive RCM practice can provide a draw
7. Verify that bearing temperatures are within limits and that on valuable resources, reducing the effectiveness of the
lubricant is clean and proper level maintained; involved parties. Instead, the program should be focused on
8. Verify no unusual vibration or noise exists; identifying, first, equipment that affects safety, regulatory
9. Check alignment; conditions, production and other applications (ie: the
10. Check for proper lubrication. maintenance of costly equipment or processes).

"A definite schedule of preventive maintenance inspections The types of maintenance that can be applied to a system as
should be established to avoid breakdown, serious damage and the result of an RCM analysis include:
extensive downtime. The schedule will depend on operating

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 1. Corrective Maintenance: Maintenance used to return the V. SELECTING CBM PROCESSES AND TECHNOLOGY
condition of equipment following failure;
2. Alterative Maintenance: Maintenance involving With a more accurate understanding of the needs for effective
redesigning the equipment to correct a design problem maintenance, the correct technologies and processes can be
with the application; and, selected. The information can also be used to compare to the
3. Preventive Maintenance: Which includes lubrication and capabilities of each type of CBM technology and even
servicing; Time directed - maintenance performed by instrument vendors.
hours or calendar; and, Condition directed maintenance
where the condition can be evaluated prior to failure. Using the information from the RCM analysis, specifications
for CBM equipment can be generated and procedures
The RCM approach is used to ensure that the most effective developed. With technology, this allows for the selection of
methods are used. The basic steps of the RCM process instrumentation that meets the needs of the program and not
include: necessarily an instrument with features that will not be used in
the normal course of the program.
1. Set boundaries and create a functional block diagram with
partitioning of the system under review; The identification of CBM practices and technology will also
2. Determine functional failures; identify the required level of experience of the maintenance or
3. Determine functionally significant items of the system; reliability technician utilized. This assists in identifying
4. Perform a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA); existing manpower that is capable of performing the task,
5. Perform a logic tree analysis in order to determine the additional manpower needed and/or training requirements.
effectiveness of maintenance tasks for the FMEA;
6. Determine servicing and lubrication tasks; VI. APPLICATION OF THE PROCESS
7. Set maintenance requirements for the system;
8. Draft and evaluate maintenance procedures; The RCM process has been in place with the US Military
9. Determine tasks for inactive equipment; and, since 1976 for all equipment with a focus on weapons and
10. Develop corrective maintenance processes, procedures aircraft. The process is used in all cases for NAVSEA and the
and specifications. US Coast Guard since 1976, with the implementation of the
MIL-P-24534, upgraded in 1985 to the MIL-P-24534A[5], as
It is also important to understand, through this process, that ordered by the Reliability-Centered Maintenance Handbook
not all failures can, or should, be avoided. There will be published by NAVSEA in October, 1983[6].
equipment in which time involved in maintenance will not be In 2003, it was determined to evaluate the condition of motors
effective and others where the risk is not great enough. This is in marine environments through the application of Motor
the concept that not all failures can or should be prevented Circuit Analysis (MCA) as opposed to insulation resistance
with risk management being good maintenance as opposed to
the traditional approach that all failures can and must be tests, which were identified as not detecting a majority of
prevented with risk avoidance being good maintenance. motor winding failures. A maintenance review was performed
using an RCM-Based approach and the failure modes
Risk = Pf x Sf (1) identified. Infrared analysis of most rotating machinery
Where Pf is probability offailure and Sf is severity offailure (except some controls) was eliminated and insulation testing
replaced with MCA with the test frequency selected based
Other considerations taken into the realm of the RCM process, upon Time to Failure Estimation (TTFE) techniques[7, 8]. By
usually during the FMEA, are Root-Cause-Failure-Analysis May, 2005, a selection of 1,054 tests were compared. By
(RCFA) and Repetitive Failure Analysis (RFA). Rules need following the old procedure of insulation testing, 35 (3.3%)
to be applied for the application of both, and both may require insulation to ground faults were detected (less than 1 MegOhm
processes, procedures and/or technology to identify the per NSTM Chapter 300), 398 (37.8%) total insulation system
specific functional issue. defects were detected with MCA, which met the expected
industry average of initial MCA testing[l]. The result of this
In effect, the RCM-Based Analysis will assist in the application was a reduction of 7 to 10 business days of testing
identification of: per vessel to 3-5 business days with the same number of
personnel. Additional results are still under study and include
1. The equipment that needs to be monitored; confirming TTFE estimations and the overall cost benefit of
2. The conditions that need to be monitored; the application of MCA as one ofthe CBM technologies.
3. The limits and fault conditions to be monitored; and,
4. The frequency of testing. As a result of the study, rotating machine functions and failure
modes were identified. The result of the RCM study of the
machines include optimized vibration analysis on critical
machines, criticality and severity levels selected to allow for

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 prioritization of repairs, and the selection of MCA to replace
routine insulation resistance testing.
VII. CONCLUSION

The RCM-Based approach to motor management provides the

rules of evidence and logical processes necessary to provide
the right maintenance on the right equipment at the right time
for the right reasons. Manufacturer-based maintenance
identified in user and maintenance manuals tend to be too time
intensive, when applied to a population of motors, and some
practices may reduce the reliability of the motors over time.
Therefore, the equipment owner must evaluate and determine
the actual requirements of the machine function and potential
failures for the application, using the maintenance manuals as
a guide as opposed to a requirement. The RCM process can
then be applied to assist in the development of an overall
maintenance strategy.
The processes presented in this paper have been effectively
utilized by the US Military since 1976 and offer an
opportunity to improve motor maintenance and management
practices within industry. Utilizing a combination of RCM,
TTFE and MCA practices and technologies, the identification
of over 10 times the winding defects were found in a military
application. Additional supporting work is in progress.
VIII. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Howard W. Penrose, Ph.D., is the Vice President of the

Electrical Reliability Group for T-Solutions, Inc., an industrial
and military maintenance and reliability consulting firm. He
has over 20 years in the electric motor system industry and is
presently the Executive Director of the Institute of Electrical
Motor Diagnostics.
IX. REFERENCES

[I] H. Penrose and T. O'Hanlon, Motor Diagnostics and Motor Health Study,
SUCCESS by DESIGN Publishing, 2003.
[2] H. Penrose, A Novel Approach to Electric Motor System Maintenance and
Management for Improved Industrial and Commercial Uptime and Energy
Costs, SUCCESS by DESIGN Publishing, 1997.
[3] Siemens Energy, Induction Motors/Generators, Siemens Energy and
Automation, Inc., 2002.
[4] Nowlan and Heap, Reliability-Centered Maintenance, US Department of
Commerce and United Airlines, 1978.
[5] Military Specification, MIL-P-24534A(Navy) Planned Maintenance
System: Development of Maintenance Requirement Cards, Maintenance Index
Pages and Associated Documentation, NAVSEA, 1985.
[6] Commander, NAVSEA, Reliability-Centered Maintenance Handbook,
NAVSEA, 1983.
[7] H. Penrose, "Estimating Motor Life Using Motor Circuit Analysis
Predictive Measurements: Part 1," Proceedings - 2003 EIC/EMCW
Conference, IEEE, 2003.
[8] H. Penrose, "Estimating Motor Life Using Motor Circuit Analysis
Predictive Measurements: Part 2," Proceedings - 2004 ISEI/EMCW
Conference, IEEE, 2004.

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