by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | May 15, 2021 | Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, over 4,760 trillion Btu of steam energy represents 40% of the total energy used in industrial process applications. The efficiency of steam production by fuel ranges from 85.7% efficiency (natural gas) to 90.3% (coal) with...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | May 7, 2021 | Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
When it comes to a production operation, energy, process, reliability, and waste stream aren’t stand-alone elements. And they really don’t differ much from one another. In fact, the results associated with improving or ignoring each of these areas are...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | May 1, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Motors & Drives
Following publication of Mar. 21, 2021, article about the application of high-voltage testing on electric motors, at least one commenter noted that the referenced IEEE Standard 1415-2006 was administratively withdrawn on Mar. 25, 2021. A primary concern seems have...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Apr 22, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, The Sustainable Plant
When determining the approach for assessing a facility, there are several decisions to make, including selection of independent software tools and guides. The U.S. Department.of Energy (USDOE, energy.gov) has developed a number of taxpayer-supported tools that review...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Apr 17, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
Standard approaches to industrial and commercial surveys and audits have inherent problems. If it is an energy audit, the focus is strictly on energy savings. If the audit is on waste-stream or reliability and maintenance, the focus, typically, is on just those...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Apr 9, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
We frequently think of electric motors and driven equipment when the topic of energy efficiency comes up. On the other hand, the energy-transmission component, or coupling, also has an energy-efficiency rating that can be affected by things such as application and...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Apr 3, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Plant Operations, The Sustainable Plant
Compressed-air systems are an important part of most plant operations. That said, these systems have typically been the most inefficient utility in plants. Even in a well-maintained compressed-air system, to operate a one-horsepower air motor, you generally need seven...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Mar 27, 2021 | Asset Management, Safety Matters
The move toward digital transformation throughout industry is clearly important. Yet, except in the IT departments of many plants and facilities, there still seems to be enormous misunderstanding as to which physical assets and systems at sites should be considered...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Mar 21, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Motors & Drives
Last week’s article (March, 13, 2021), “Evaluation Of Medium And High Voltage Machines with Motor Circuit Analysis (MCA)” sparked quite a bit of interest. That included substantial on- and off-line discussion about low- and high-voltage testing. Based on articles and...
by Howard Penrose, Ph.D., CMRP | Mar 13, 2021 | Electrical Reliability, Motors & Drives
Low- and high-voltage Motor Circuit Analysis (MCA) methods have existed since the 1950s, with low-voltage MCA technology becoming commercially viable in the 1980s. Since the mid-1980s, MCA technologies have become more prevalent as part of predictive-maintenance (PdM)...
