INTELLIGENT MICROPROCESSOR-BASED DEVICES PROVIDE ADVANCED MOTOR PROTECTION, FLEXIBLE CONTROL, AND COMMUNICATION IN PAPER-MILLS

Motor failures are very costly in a typical paper mill. Typical motor failure cost upwards of $20 000 per hour. Motor repair costs for the N orth American mills of Champion International total over $10 000 000 p er year. Lost production associated with these failures can reach a st aggering $1 000 000 per day. Considering these facts, Champion Interna tional embarked on a program to use intelligent motor control and prot ection equipment in all new installations, where applicable, and to re place outdated motor protection equipment, The combination of advanced motor protection, flexible control, and communication provided Champi on with the opportunity to directly control and monitor their processe s. The advanced features of the new equipment provide warning of impen ding problems, minimize downtime, and improve process results, This pa per provides case histories where the new equipment replaced dated ele ctromechanical protection and control equipment. In addition, we also discuss the present generation of motor protection technologies and th e need for a new generation of motor protection equipment that truly p rovides total motor protection against all known motor failure modes.