There’s more to drive servicing than repair vs replace
When carefully looked after and operated within rated limits, a drive can easily run for 20-25 years or more. Steve Hughes, Strategic Marketing & Sales Manager – Motion Service, at ABB explains how new approaches to drive servicing are opening up more options to extend asset lifetime and improve energy efficiency.
If a drive is no longer working as it should, or is approaching the end of its useful life, then in the past you typically had two options: repair or replace. The right option for a particular drive would generally be based on running hours, cost to repair or replace, and total running costs, although other factors such as criticality or ease of access may also be considered.
More recently, and as approaches to drive care and maintenance have grown more sophisticated, new options have opened up beyond repair and replace. There are now a wide number of additional options, ranging from preventative maintenance and reconditioning all the way up to hardware upgrades. The right solution can be tailored to the individual drive and the facility in which it runs, taking into account the device’s life cycle status, service history and operating environment.
For instance, reconditioning (for functioning drives) and Premium Repair (for non-functioning drives) are now viable options for drive users in the UK thanks to ABB’s specialist Drive Workshop facility in Coalville. Reconditioning and Premium Repair involve the replacement of all age-sensitive components according to the relevant maintenance schedule, as well as any others that may need replacing early due to the drive’s environment and load characteristics. Drives are then fully load tested and leave the workshop with a two-year warranty.
An additional option may be to retrofit, whereby the complete drive module within a panel is replaced. This is carried out on site, reducing the overall carbon footprint by retaining the drive enclosure and other ancillary components. In the case of retrofitting, internal components can be upgraded, taking the drive out of its classic life cycle phase and putting it back into an active phase. In ABB’s case, this can quite literally mean taking an older ACS800, ACS600 or SAMI drive and replacing the drive or module to turn it into a newer ACS880.
Extending the useful life of a drive asset can delay the carbon impact of replacing it. ABB estimates that Reconditioning or Premium Repair services use between 55 and 80% less carbon compared to buying a new drive and disposing of the old one.
Knowing what level of service your drive needs at a given time isn’t always easy. Many drives are installed and then left to run for long periods without being regularly inspected. As such, it can be difficult to know their true condition. Any undetected issues, if not dealt with, can turn into sudden failures and unexpected downtime further down the line. This is why lifecycle management goes hand-in-hand with maintenance. The first step may be to have a simple spreadsheet cataloguing your assets, their age, and when they were last serviced. This can give you a much better understanding of what your drives need in the way of servicing at a given time, or what they are likely to need in the future based on typical preventive maintenance schedules linked to their duty levels. This data can then be used with ABB’s Life Cycle Audit tool to prepare a detailed report, allowing for financial and project planning.
Data should also be embraced as part of any circular approach, and this can provide additional insights into the performance and condition of a drive asset. Monitoring assets digitally is now easier than ever. The data generated can help you understand what’s going on inside your drive and provide useful insights to aid decision-making on repairs and upgrade pathways.
There are now more options than ever to find the right level of service to make sure your drive’s needs are met throughout its life. ABB’s drive service workshop in Coalville is accredited to factory standard and can provide a wide range of repair services for both functioning and non-functioning drives, from preventive maintenance and lifecycle management to comprehensive Premium Repair services.
