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The integral horsepower (1 HP/0.75 kW and above) AC induction motor is taking its first steps toward being IIoT-enabled, with several solutions being provided by motor suppliers such as Siemens and ABB. However, no matter what communication protocol and gateway solution is used to create a bridge to the Internet, a question arises about which motors will be granted the ability to communicate with the Cloud. Is the motor itself a critical asset? Is it running critical assets or operations? A comprehensive, application-specific asset management strategy needs to be created and then applied to the motor hardware already in operation. For owner-operators, looking at their motor fleets from this perspective will illuminate which motors should be elevated into the IIoT spotlight.
Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance services rely heavily on sensor technology to provide real time diagnostic data from an electric motor. Inevitably, the motor’s form factor becomes a limiting factor as the majority of fractional HP motors are too small to embed internal sensors needed for IIoT services. Furthermore, fractional HP motors are rarely considered as critical assets.
To highlight this concept further, consider a $400, 5 horsepower (HP) motor running a fixed speed line conveyor in a soft drink bottling factory. Does this motor merit a retrofit with embedded sensors so it can speak to Siemens Mindsphere, or GE’s Predix platform? Maybe, but probably only if a failure would have a significant business impact. How about a $450,000, 5 megawatt (MW) motor used to pump coolant water to rods inside a nuclear reactor? The form factor issue and the valuation of a motor as a critical asset are two significant factors in determining which motors are deemed worthy for IIoT enablement. It can be reasonably assumed that the IIoT party for motors will most likely be an “invite only” event where a significant number of motors will be left out of the festivities for a variety of reasons.
Answering some of the questions below (and others) is the beginning of a methodical process to provide insight on which motors are realistic targets for IIoT-enablement:
When looking at the motors industry through the lenses of variable and fixed speed applications, other considerations come to light. AC drives are an existing gateway device to enable IIoT services for motors. However, AC drive penetration is relatively low with an estimated 25-30 percent of new motors being equipped with a drive. What about fixed speed applications where a motor has no AC drive to feed data into? These motors constitute the overwhelming majority of industrial motors and would need to be equipped with sensors, which brings the discussion back to the ‘Is the motor a critical asset?’ question.
ARC Advisory Group believes that IIoT services definitely have a useful place in the motors industry, and predicts that motors invited to the IIoT party will have to meet certain prerequisites such as those mentioned above. Fractional HP motors ship in the billions of units; integral HP motors ship in the tens of millions of units, and; medium/high voltage motors ship in the tens of thousands of units. What does this all mean? The percentage of industrial motors with realistic IIoT potential resides in the very low single digits.
Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance services rely heavily on sensor technology to provide real time diagnostic data from an electric motor. Inevitably, the motor’s form factor becomes a limiting factor as the majority of fractional HP motors are too small to embed internal sensors needed for IIoT services. Furthermore, fractional HP motors are rarely considered as critical assets.
To highlight this concept further, consider a $400, 5 horsepower (HP) motor running a fixed speed line conveyor in a soft drink bottling factory. Does this motor merit a retrofit with embedded sensors so it can speak to Siemens Mindsphere, or GE’s Predix platform? Maybe, but probably only if a failure would have a significant business impact. How about a $450,000, 5 megawatt (MW) motor used to pump coolant water to rods inside a nuclear reactor? The form factor issue and the valuation of a motor as a critical asset are two significant factors in determining which motors are deemed worthy for IIoT enablement. It can be reasonably assumed that the IIoT party for motors will most likely be an “invite only” event where a significant number of motors will be left out of the festivities for a variety of reasons.
Answering some of the questions below (and others) is the beginning of a methodical process to provide insight on which motors are realistic targets for IIoT-enablement:
- Is a manufacturer willing to pay for monitoring services for motors deemed as non-critical assets?
- A common industry practice for motors deemed as critical assets is to have a backup motor in inventory at the ready. Will the value propositions that IIoT provides alter this long-standing industry practice?
- If the motor is easy and inexpensive to replace, why invest in its long-term care?
- The industry consensus about a motor’s repair threshold is 75-100 HP (56-75 kW) and above. What compelling value propositions do IIoT technologies present to justify predictive maintenance for motors <75 HP (<56 kW)?
- For the Siemens solution; Is the additional labor expense to embed the sensors in an installed-base motor justified? Is the higher cost of a new IIoT-enable motor justified?
- For the ABB solution; How will an externally attached Bluetooth sensor be transformed into an IP-driven Cloud application?
When looking at the motors industry through the lenses of variable and fixed speed applications, other considerations come to light. AC drives are an existing gateway device to enable IIoT services for motors. However, AC drive penetration is relatively low with an estimated 25-30 percent of new motors being equipped with a drive. What about fixed speed applications where a motor has no AC drive to feed data into? These motors constitute the overwhelming majority of industrial motors and would need to be equipped with sensors, which brings the discussion back to the ‘Is the motor a critical asset?’ question.
ARC Advisory Group believes that IIoT services definitely have a useful place in the motors industry, and predicts that motors invited to the IIoT party will have to meet certain prerequisites such as those mentioned above. Fractional HP motors ship in the billions of units; integral HP motors ship in the tens of millions of units, and; medium/high voltage motors ship in the tens of thousands of units. What does this all mean? The percentage of industrial motors with realistic IIoT potential resides in the very low single digits.