Shaft Grounding for Pharmaceutical Motors

The pharmaceutical industry uses electric motors for hundreds of purposes.  To name only a few, they power the HVAC that warms, cools, and filters air; the pumps that move refrigerants and other liquids; and the grinders, mixers, and fillers that Pharmacy industry uses electric motorscompound the product.  Some of these motors may be general duty, but others must be washdown rated or explosion-proof.  What all of these motors must be, though, is reliable.

The cost of unplanned downtime is always high in manufacturing.  In pharmaceuticals, it is astronomical.  In late 2010, Novartis had a plant shutdown that may have cost it $560 million.  That's half a billion dollars.

With costs like these, anything that maintenance staff can do to reduce the risk of shutdown is a good investment.  Case in point:  Shaft grounding rings for electric motors controlled by adjustable speed drives.  Without shaft grounding, these drives cause electrical bearing damage and premature failure.  Motor failure in a critical process can put a major kink into a production line.

LEESON duck cutaway

The most reliable shaft grounding product is the AEGIS® Shaft Grounding Ring.  AEGIS rings are also the only shaft grounding product with a 2-Year Extended Warranty.  AEGIS rings can be installed on in-service motors, but they are also available factory-installed on general purpose, washdown duty, and even explosion proof motors.  Whatever kind of motor you need, it's probably available with an AEGIS ring factory-installed.

AEGIS rings are an integral part of a full reliability strategy.  Whatever the application, if a motor is on a variable frequency drive, it should have AEGIS shaft grounding.

 

AEGIS Rings also come with a 2-year extended warranty against bearing fluting damage. No other form of protection against VFD-caused bearing damage offers a warranty like this.

2-Year Extended Warranty

To learn more about AEGIS shaft grounding and best practices for electrical bearing protection, sign up for a training. We offer monthly live training webinars, and - pandemic restrictions permitting - we can also visit your facility to review your exact application.

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