Electric motor advice

[robwizard]

Just looking for a bit of advice/recommendation really. I used to work on these winches that used Baldor washdown motors, when they worked they were very good but we had all sorts of problems with them over the years which were often very expensive and time consuming to remedy.

We're looking at building some new winches and although I'm quite happy with the mechanical side of things I'm not at all sure about the motors..

What I'm looking for I think is a low RPM DC motor (speed control essential), with about 1.5-2.5 H.P. Would need to be 'washdown' so I think IP65 or better. Small form factor if possible. One of the main problems with the Baldor ones is they were massive and very heavy, so I'm wondering if a more modern and lightweight solution might be found.

Any advice or recommendations?

Thanks

Rob

 

[MCKDAVID]

if washdown is a major reliability issue, what about hydraulic motors instead, with a small electrical power pack for fluid power, hydraulics offer easy speed control too, especially at low revs, no over- heating issues which can be a problem with electric motors.

 

[robwizard]

I hadn't really considered hydraulics. To produce ~2HP, is it going to be achievable in a smaller and lighter way than using an electric motor? I've had a quick look at the motors and they seem perfect; small, lightweight, suitable for harsh conditions etc.. but the power packs look like pretty hefty units. Another advantage would be that if hydraulic power was available then you could presumably do away with the power pack and just connect the motor/controller directly to the available hydraulic power..?

Cheers,

 

[MCKDAVID]

if you already have hydraulic power available, it would be easy enough to configure a control system using that, it just a source of power. you'd just have to figure out how & what you need to control. You'll also have to think about segregation / pressure control / safe isolations etc depending on the different services using the same power source, but should be feasible.
As it's for a winch, you'll also need to look at the safety aspects, does your industry allow their use? in case of the load descending due to power failure / loss of pressure etc. etc,

As for size, again depends on the total power / frequency of use you need, but you can get some pretty small power packs? Their size is usually associated to the volume of oil / cooling etc. Even if they were bigger you can just pipe them to suit, don't need to be on the unit itself if size is a big issue.

 

[robwizard]

Yeah basically the intended use is onboard workboats. We had problems in the past when the vessels wouldn't have sufficient power available to power the winch/winches, so having the option to connect to a hydraulic power source could be really useful in that situation. I presume they are allowed in the industry as other companies use/make them, though the electric ones have to have a brake fitted so that when it's not recovering or deploying the brake is activated. Not sure if it's possible to achieve something similar with a hydraulic unit?

Regarding the size it's all new to me and I'm not sure what to make of it, I thought I knew nothing about electric motors but I know absolutely nothing about hydraulics it turns out haha. The goal with the design of the winch is to make something smaller and lighter than what we already use. Having the power pack as a seperate unit could work, but it would be much better to have it all as a standalone unit.

Cheers,