Motor drives critical compressor at UK's largest oil refinery

Rated at 1.1MW, 3.3kV, the motor is operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and drives a large compressor which in turn feeds one of the refinery's critical pipestills. The motor runs at 1,500rpm and is coupled to a step-up gearbox to drive the feed compressor at 10,000rpm. The motor is equipped with a fault rated phase segregated terminal box rated to withstand 250MVA for 0.25s at 3.3kV. The motor is also fitted with insulated, self-contained 'Renk' sleeve bearings to ensure continuous, maintenance-free operation. The bearings are insulated to prevent circulating shaft currents within the motor which could result in electrical discharges and bearing damage. The refinery handles around 2,000 ship movements and 22 million tonnes of crude oil per year, refining around 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day and supplying more than 15% of all oil products in the UK. The refinery uses large distillation columns, or pipestills, which are fed with crude oil. These are heated to around 600°C in a boiler using super heated steam and then subjected to a complex fractionation process. This causes the oil to separate into different products at various levels of the pipestill, typically heavy gas oil, lubricating oil, diesel, kerosene, gasoline and gas. DP Pointers * WEG's medium voltage motor is driving a large compressor which feeds a critical distillation column at Esso's oil refinery in Southampton * The motor uses insulated, self-contained 'Renk' sleeve bearings to ensure continuous, maintenance-free operation * The motor is rated at 1.1MW, 3.3kV and is fitted with a fault rated phase segregated terminal box