Original Date: 11/03/1996
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

What began a few years ago as an investigation of motor-driven valves at Oak Ridge developed into an in-depth, real- time, testbed for electric motors. The Motor Test Facility can emulate any combination of motor field conditions and provide the data acquisition and analysis capability for a thorough investigation of any motor design, manufacturing, or analysis problem. In addition, the facility can create the primary, field-service conditions which may produce a major effect on motor efficiency and motor lifetime. Such conditions include phase unbalance of voltage; undervoltage or overvoltage; structural resonance in the foundation; misalignment between motor and driven equipment; and load torque oscillation in the driven equipment. Currently, the Motor Test Facility is constructing a harmonic voltage distortion console which will emulate any combination of harmonics previously identified in service situations.

In the near future, the Motor Test Facility will house a complete research facility for three-phase industrial drive motors up to 2,000 hp and 6.9 kV. The test pedestal, designed to accommodate motors up to 100 hp, is operational and continues to expand on its proven track record. Special “soft feet,” located in the base-plate channels, isolate the motor from external vibrations. The test pedestal also accommodates a 150-hp, water-cooled, eddy-current dynamometer; a 20 kV generator; a 1-hp generator to serve as loads; and a 140-amp, three-phase variac. Each phase of the variac can independently be adjusted from 0% to 120%.

The Motor Test Facility provides laser alignment capabilities for motors to ensure exact alignment or to study the effect of misalignment. The facility also supplies complete failure analysis equipment so a faulty motor can be disassembled and analyzed to confirm its root cause of failure.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.