Menzel delivers seven motors to North African plant

Menzel Elektromotoren has engineered and delivered six new motors between late 2014 and June 2015 for a North African cement plant. A seventh will follow in August 2015.

All of the motors are replacements for legacy drives in the plant, the largest being a six-pole size 800 slip-ring motor with 4800kW rated power, 11,000V rated voltage and a speed of 992 min-1.

As the customer wanted to retain the old starter for this motor, the new motor needed to feature completely identical rotor data. In addition, the customer requested a hydrostatic bearing for the motor. The high-pressure lubrication was to ensure that the rotor “floats” on an oil film even at low speeds or during complete standstill.

"Even though the timeframe for manufacture of such a large motor was tight, Menzel was able to deliver on time in 2014," the Germany-based equipment supplier said. The customer then ordered a further six motors with varying specifications, with sizes ranging from 400-710 and between 275kW and 2800kW rated power.

Five of these motors were delivered in June 2015, after the customer had travelled to Berlin in May to see them tested in Menzel's in-house load-test-field. The motor specialist has recently installed a second 9m x 3m test field. This ensures even quicker testing with parallel installation and de-installation of several motors at once.