The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, January 2004.

Copyright 2004 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-

Conditioning Engineers, Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or
in paper form without permission of ASHRAE.

By John Malinowski Table 1 shows EPAct and NEMA Pre-

mium motor efficiencies for typical four-
VAC equipment uses ac motors ranging from subfractional horse- pole (1,800 rpm) open drip-proof motors.
H power units to motors producing several hundred horsepower. (These also are shown in ANSI/
ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2001,
Motor enclosures vary from simple open drip-proof designs to en- Energy Standard for Buildings Except
closed fan-cooled units for outdoor use, as well as hermetically sealed Low-Rise Residential Buildings, where
EPAct efficiencies are listed.)
motors that are built as part of a compressor system.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), tional Electrical Manufacturers Associa- Calculating Energy Savings
which took effect Oct. 1997, mandates the tion (NEMA) standard MG 1-1998 cov- Methods of calculating the cost of en-
minimum efficiency for general purpose ers motors of 1 to 500 hp (0.75 to 373 ergy consumed by the motor during its
foot-mounted three-phase ac induction kW) and was introduced in 2001. operation range are straightforward.
motors of 1 to 200 hp (0.75 to 150 kW) However, sophisticated programs are
for sale in the United States. EPAct motors Life-Cycle Cost available at no charge from the DOE
often are referred to as high-efficiency mo- The purchase price of an electric mo- (MotorMaster+) and from various motor
tors. EPAct does not regulate efficiency tor is about 2% of its life-cycle cost manufacturers. The formulae for these
of motors that are smaller than 1 hp (0.75 (based on continuous operation 8,760 calculations are basically the same.
kW) or more than 200 hp (150 kW) or hours per year). Although there is an ini- Energy savings are calculated by tak-
motors that are hermetically sealed. Mo- tial premium to pay for NEMA Premium ing the difference in energy consump-
tors covered by EPAct generally are used motors, the payback is usually within the tion of the base motor and the energy
for industrial heating and cooling systems first two to three years of use. In addi-
powering fans, pumps and compressors. tion, during the life of the motor (28 years About the Author
Motors with efficiencies above the according to a recent U.S. Department of John Malinowski is product marketing manager
EPAct minimums are known as NEMA Energy survey [DOE]), the premium mo- for ac and dc motors for Baldor Electric Com-
Premium efficient motors. The Na- tor continues to save energy. pany in Fort Smith, Ark.

30 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org January 2004

consumption of the high-efficiency equivalent motor. The
equation to calculate these savings is:
Energy Savings = Annual Energy base Annual Energy high eff.
Where Annual Energy base refers to the energy consumption
of the existing base motor and Annual Energy high eff. refers to
the energy consumption of the equivalent high efficiency
motor. The equation for annual energy is as follows:
Annual Energy =
horsepower 0.746 operating hours motor loading
efficiency
The value of the efficiency parameter is the only one that
changes when calculating the base and high-efficiency motors
energy consumption. The efficiency of the base motor is taken
from the motors nameplate during an energy survey. Obvi-
ously, more sophisticated measurements of wattage consumed,
showing the actual level of motor loading, will lead to more
accurate calculations. Many meter and instrument companies
are beginning to offer energy measurement equipment spe-
cifically designed for plant motor energy surveys.
Conducting plant surveys with multiple motors is easier
using software available from most motor manufacturers and
the DOE. The software matches motors with EPAct and NEMA
Premium motors and shows the payback using the plants elec-
tric rate and hours of use per motor.
Benefits Beyond Energy Savings
Energy savings are not the sole justification for premium
efficient motors. Most facilities are more concerned about elimi-
nating downtime than reducing their energy bill. Fortunately,
premium efficient motors are simply better motors than older
standard efficiency designs. The following are some of the
benefits of these premium efficiency motors:
To achieve their high efficiency, premium efficient motors
have lower losses, therefore, motors operate cooler, motor in-
sulation and bearings last longer. For every 18F (10C) cooler,
the motor insulation life is doubled.
When operated in an area cooled by driven equipment,
premium motors produce less heating watts loss that must be
cooled by the HVAC equipment.
With a lower temperature rise, premium motors are better
suited for adjustable speed operation using a pulse width modu-
lation (PWM) supply that normally causes additional motor
heating from the harmonics in the waveform.
Laminations made of high-grade magnetic steel are ca-
pable of being run through a temperature-controlled bake-out
oven for rewind. Lower grade magnetic steel can degrade from
high temperatures, producing core losses, resulting in addi-
January 2004
tional heating and reducing the motors efficiency after re-
wind. The Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA)
has a paper titled Guidelines for Maintaining Motor Effi-
ciency During Rebuilding. It addresses stator burnout prac-
tices and using a quench oven to keep temperatures below
800F (427C) so the insulation coating on the laminations is
not damaged.
A lower temperature rise in the motor means that a smaller
cooling fan can be used on the motor, resulting in quieter
operation and fewer losses to drive the fan.
Most TEFC (totally enclosed fan-cooled) premium effi-
ciency motors use cast-iron frames and endplates and are more
durable.
Motors with cast-iron frames and endplates are more rigid,
helping to reduce vibration.
Cast-iron frame bases are machined to be more flat than a
stamped steel base, resulting in easier alignment and longer
bearing life.
Cast housings have cooling fins and generally dissipate
heat more effectively than a steel band motor.
Many cast-iron motors are offered as severe duty models
with extra corrosion proofing, epoxy paint, neoprene gaskets,
grease fittings and reliefs, corrosion-resistant hardware and
other features to extend their life.
Motors with cast-iron housings and endplates resist corro-
sion better compared to rolled-steel band or aluminum frame
motors with aluminum endplates.
The better components discussed previously and tighter
manufacturing tolerances result in better balance and longer
bearing life.
Application Considerations
In a conventional application where older motors were re-
placed by newer motors, the lower slip (higher rpm of the mo-
tor) actually may cause the motor to consume more energy.
This is because the motor is driving the fan at a higher speed,
producing more airflow, more horsepower and consuming more
energy to do it. Older motors typically have more slip than
new higher efficiency motors. Slip is the change in rpm from
the motors synchronous speed (3,600, 1,800 or 1,200 rpm) to
its actual full load speed (i.e., 3,460, 1,780 or 1,140 rpm).
On belt-driven equipment, the drive pulleys could be resized
to compensate for the higher speed of the motor and adjust the
fan speed/required horsepower to be the same as the older motor.
Energy savings will be realized only by making this drive
pulley adjustment.
On direct-drive fans, the higher motor speed requires more
horsepower, consuming more energy. If additional airflow is
desired, the change to these lower slip motors is one way to
achieve it.
ASHRAE Journal 31
 80 DOE NEMA
EPAct
HP Survey Premium
Efficiency
Installed Avg. Efficiency
1 79.3 82.5 85.5
60
1.5 80.5 84.0 86.5
A
Direct Drive and 2 82.4 84.0 86.5
Output Damper 3 83.8 86.5 89.5
5 85.2 87.5 89.5
kW

40
7.5 86.1 88.5 91.0
10 87.8 89.5 91.7
B 15 88.3 91.0 93.0
20 Drive 20 88.9 91.0 93.0
Via 100kVA ASD
25 88.9 91.7 93.6
30 90.0 92.4 94.1
0 40 90.7 93.0 94.1
20 40 60 80 100 50 91.3 93.0 94.5
Percent Flow 60 91.9 93.6 95.0
Figure 1: As fan speed increases, motor power increases. 75 92.1 94.1 95.0
100 92.2 94.1 95.4
125 92.8 94.5 95.4
30 150 93.0 95.0 95.8
Motor
Motor With ASD 200 95.0 95.8
20 Survey information from United States Industrial Electric Motor Systems Market
Opportunities Assessment December 1998.
kW

10 Table 1: Nominal efficiency of four-pole ODP motors.

0
80
0 50 100 Motor
Annual Megawatt

Percent Motor Load Motor With ASD

60
Hours

Figure 2: Input power for motor and motor with an ASD. 40

Additional Energy Savings From Drives
Motor speed may be adjusted to control system airflow in-
stead of using inlet vanes or outlet dampers. The benefit of
using the adjustable speed drive is that by slowing down the
motor and the driven load, energy consumption is reduced be-
cause of the lower horsepower requirement shown on the fan
curve example in Figure 1. Using vanes or dampers to control
airflow has little effect on the fans load as measured at the motor.
As you can see from the curve in Figure 1, as fan speed
increases, motor power requirements (current) also increase.
The motor is working harder and more airflow is produced. As
the damper is closed, the load does not drop off significantly.
Less air is supplied, but the motor is working at about the same
amount of power as shown in Figure 2.
When we discard the damper and adjust the motor and fan
speed to control airflow, motor load and power drops off sig-
nificantly. When the motor speed is reduced using an adjust-
able speed drive (inverter) to lower the voltage and frequency,
the fan load reduction lowers the power requirements of the
motor in MWh (Figure 3).
If the motor speed is not reduced, only adding the adjustable
speed drive will not reduce energy consumption. The more the
20
0
20 40 60 80 100
Percent Motor Load
Figure 3: MWh consumed by motor with and without drive.
motor is throttled back, the greater the savings. Premium effi-
ciency motors are also friendly to the voltage and current wave-
forms produced by PWM adjustable speed drives.
Summary
To provide motors requiring the lowest amount of energy for
operation, specify NEMA Premium efficient motors on any
equipment purchased. Initial purchase price may be slightly
more, but the life-cycle cost of the equipment will be reduced.
Adjustable speed drives may dramatically reduce your energy
costs if the fan output is throttled down.
Work with motor manufacturers and their distributors when
selecting motors for your application. Local electric utilities
offer application assistance to industrial accounts. Many offer
rebate programs and incentives to upgrade to premium effi-
cient motors and drives.

32 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org January 2004