Electric Motor Systems

Electric motors are a major component of the technological world in which we are living.

Even the most modest European households today contain easily ten electric motors. In industry, electric motors are even more widespread and often hidden in closed systems such as fans, pumps or compressors. In the transition towards a zero-carbon energy system, the role of electric motors will grow even further. In the zero- carbon economy scenario, the estimated total share of motor systems will quadruple from 8% to 32% of all energy end-use. Therefore making those systems highly energy efficient is imperative. The technology to make motor systems more energy efficient is available on the market and its adoption is mostly beneficial from a life-cycle costing perspective.

Since 2011, minimum efficiency performance standards (MEPS) for the major motor categories are mandatory in the EU. Nevertheless, there is a large savings potential that could be tapped into through better adoption of existing standards, the extension of MEPS towards other motor categories, and more emphasis on an overall electric motor system’s approach.

Electric Motor Systems
The electric motor does not function in isolation: the motor driven unit (MDU) consists of the electric motor, sometimes controlling equipment such as a soft starter or variable speed drive (VSD), supporting mechanical equipment (gear, belt, clutch, brake…) and the application it is driving (pump, fan, compressor). The motor system also includes all other components that suffer from energy losses while executing its function (water or air ducts, throttles, valves). Optimizing this entire motor system is the best way to minimize energy use and CO2 emissions.