Electric Drive Health Assessment

Abstract

Electric drives are widely used to regulate the flow of power supply between source to motor either due to Process or Operation requirement and as means to lower motor's inrush current. The use of AC electric drives is expected to increase due to pressing need to reduce operational cost, increase productivity and energy saving in line with company's efforts towards electrification. There have been records of failure of electric drives in the past which have caused major production loss within Petroleum Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) operations. Common drives' failure mechanisms are converter malfunction or electronic component failures, voltage dip susceptibility, insulation degradation and so on which could be avoided through effective preventive maintenance and condition-based monitoring via data analytics. This paper describes a methodology on Electric Drive Health Assessment (EDHA) and as a web-based data analytical tool to assess and monitor electric drives' key components and parameters that contribute to a drive health index. Based on the drive health index and corresponding risk, operators are able to closely monitor the condition of electric drives in their facility which will prompt them to carry out necessary intervention. EDHA was developed based on PETRONAS installation, operation and maintenance practices, maintenance data and lessons learnt gathered from assets which have been operating for more than 30 years.