Do carbon brushes need to be checked regularly?

2021-08-23 11:22:01

Although electric motors have been used in the mining industry for more than 75 years, it was not until the past 15 years that large mining companies began to use systems and sensors in their machinery for maintenance, control and management systems. The motor consists of different parts, some of which (such as carbon brushes) need to be inspected regularly. These conduct current to the motor blades, generate a magnetic field, and rotate the motor shaft. Despite their importance, few integrated monitoring systems can check their wear status, allowing maintenance personnel to change when they need to be replaced. As far as we know, there is no automatic system that can evaluate the condition of the brush holder and the spring that maintains the brush pressure. These two components are important for the correct operation of the motor, because improper wear will affect the brushes and also affect the slip ring, which is a key factor of the motor and high maintenance costs. Slip ring failure is considered catastrophic because it means disassembling the motor, which usually costs money.

It should be pointed out that high-power motors are used in the ore transportation and processing stages to drive related machinery. The machinery includes loading shovels, off-road trucks, conveyor belts, grinders, crushers, etc., due to their size and application, they are driven by electric power. The function of the motor requires the transmission of current to the coil, which generates a magnetic field that causes the motor shaft to rotate. Carbon brushes are used to transmit current from fixed parts to rotating parts through a slip ring system.