Andhra Pradesh Energy department enters MoU with AU to extend life of agri, AC motors

Vijayawada: The State Energy department entered into an MoU with Andhra University for the research and development of Permanent Magnet Brushless Direct Current(PMBLDC) which will improve agriculture motors and enhance the life of AC motors to 15-20 years.

The existing AC motor life span is around 10 years. So far, the Energy department is using Brushless Direct Current for the motors.

According to Energy secretary Nagulapalli Srikanth, the PMBLDC is one such technology which will improve motor efficiency to 90 per cent against the existing efficiency of 75 percent with the induction motor technology. He said the life expectancy of the PMBLDC system will be increased due to high grade materials being used in PMBLDC.

Agriculture motors are important and integral part of a farmer's life. These motors also consume a lot of power and PMBLDC motors will help in energy conservation.

As part of this endeavour, a joint venture company of AP Power Utilities, AP State Energy Efficiency Development Corporation Limited (APSEEDCO), Energy department has entered into MoU with Andhra University, Visakhapatnam which is one of the prestigious universities in the country.

Apart from the agricultural and domestic pumping, the PMBLDC technology can be used for air conditioners' compressors, refrigerators, washing machines, electric vehicles etc to improve their overall efficiency.

The APSEEDCO technical team in coordination with Andhra University conducted webinar and discussed in detail the technicalities of the proposed technology and did comprehensive analysis of the concept of PMBLDC.

BLDC motors power consumption is lower when compared to induction motors because they do not require current to be induced in rotor windings.

The elimination of brushes contributes to increased efficiency, reliability, and durability of these motors and power factor management. BLDC motors are ideal for use in applications with varied loads such as solar water pumps because they have either integrated controls or are paired with drives.

Energy Secretary Srikant Nagulapalli who was briefed by APSEEDCO officials on the proposed PMBLDC project, emphasised the need to strengthen the research and development activities in the energy efficiency field.

He said advanced countries like United States, Japan, Germany, France etc give high priority to research and development activities. Effective R&D can lower the cost of manufacturing/production by improving the process that is already being used. This allows company/organisation to be more competitive in the market. He asked the power sector engineers to focus on innovation and research in power sector that can help transforming the power sector on par with global standards. Around 18 lakh agriculture motor pumpsets in the State are using conventional motors.