A New Field Test Method for Determining Energy Efficiency of Induction Motor

Abstract

Electric motors and the drive systems approximately consume half of the global electricity consumption. In the European Union (EU), electric motors and the drive systems are estimated to account for about 70% of all industrial electricity consumption. Therefore, mandatory applications accrue from the legislation of governments or unions like the EU for customs and market surveillance or eco-design requirements. The mandatory applications and the global market size find out the necessity of efficiency measurement. There are several compliance and precompliance efficiency test methods in the literature. The compliance tests should execute reliable, accurate, and reproducible results. The purpose of this paper is to define a simple field method that will be used for measuring and determining in-service efficiency at industrial conditions. The proposed method in this paper is an inexpensive and easy method that would help to energy managers and engineers to make correct decision in replacing inefficient motors with efficient and new ones. In this paper, a novel induction motor-efficiency model function has been proposed based on the International Electrotechnical Commission 60034-2-1 standard equations, and a new field test procedure has been used in efficiency estimation. The new efficiency model function variables and constants are determined from the regression analysis, which depends on 86 tests of 437 different load points’ efficiency data. Furthermore, the proposed field test procedure, equations, and compliance test methods are tested on a sample motor in laboratory, and the results are compared to each other.